Linear dipole behavior of single quantum dots encased in metal oxide semiconductor nanoparticles films

Understanding of charge/energy exchange processes and interfacial interactions that occur between quantum dots (QDs) and the metal oxides is of critical importance to these QD-based optoelectronic devices. This work reports on linear dipole behavior of single near-infrared emitting CdSeTe/ZnS core/shell QDs which are encased in indium tin oxide (ITO) semiconductor nanoparticles films. A strong polarization anisotropy in photoluminescence emission is observed by defocused wide-field imaging and polarization measurement techniques, and the average polarization degree is up to 0.45. A possible mechanism for the observation is presented in which the electrons, locating at single QD surface from ITO by electron transfer due to the equilibration of the Fermi levels, result in a significant Stark distortion of the QD electron/hole wavefunctions. The Stark distortion results in the linear polarization property of the single QDs. The investigation of linear dipole behavior for single QDs encased in ITO films would be helpful for further improving QD-based device performance.     

Finite-bias Cooper pair splitting

In a device with a superconductor coupled to two parallel quantum dots (QDs) the electrical tunability of the QD levels can be used to exploit nonclassical current correlations due to the splitting of Cooper pairs. We experimentally investigate the effect of a finite potential difference across one quantum dot on the conductance through the other completely grounded QD in a Cooper pair splitter fabricated on an InAs nanowire. We demonstrate that the nonlocal electrical transport through the device can be tuned by electrical means and that the energy dependence of the effective density of states in the QDs is relevant for the rates of Cooper pair splitting (CPS) and elastic cotunneling. Such experimental tools are necessary to understand and develop CPS-based sources of entangled electrons in solid-state devices.     

Mn-including InAs quantum dots fabricated by Mn implantation

Mn-including InAs quantum dots (QDs) were fabricated by Mn-ion implantation and subsequent annealing. The optical, compositional, and structural properties of the treated samples were analyzed by photoluminescence (PL) and microscopy. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) results indicate that Mn ions diffused from the bulk GaAs into the InAs QDs during annealing, and the diffusion appears to be driven by the strain in the InAs QDs. The temperature dependence of the PL of Mn-including InAs QD samples exhibits QDs PL characteristics. At the same time, the heavy Mn-including InAs QD samples have ferromagnetic properties and high T_c.     

Demonstration of a nanoparticle-based optical diode

We present the operation of an optical device that exhibits diodelike properties based on two adjacent layers of quantum dots (QDs) encased in a fiber-optic jacket. The possibility of a multilayered device is also discussed. A significant change in the emission spectrum of CdSe/ZnS core-shell QDs was observed when excited by the input laser and the fluorescence of other CdSe/ZnS core-shell QDs. The output of the diode can be taken to be either the incoming laser wavelength of light similar to a conventional diode, or the output may be considered to be one of the QD fluorescence wavelengths. Current work has applications in biological fluorescence monitors and sensors as well as in telecommunications applications.     

Condensable InP quantum dots solid

Colloidal thioacetic acid-capped InP quantum dots (InP-TAA QDs) and their spin coated-films have been examined in comparison with those of myristic acid-capped InP (InP-MA) QDs. While the QDs are far away from each other in the InP-MA QD films, even in a InP-MA QD film cured at 250 °C, upon thermal annealing a film of InP-TAA QDs at 250 °C, the indium thioacetate groups on the surfaces QDs likely condensed, thus resulting in the QD film that consists of individual and proximally packed InP QDs. The structures of the films of InP-MA QDs or InP-TAA QDs were characterized by means of TEM, XRD, and XPS. The current through the film of InP-TAA QDs cured at 250 °C was about 2–5 orders of magnitude higher than that of the film of InP-MA film annealed by the sample conditions. We, newly in this letter, define this kind of materials architecture as the condensable QDs solid concept.     

半导体自组织量子点量子发光机理与器件

介绍了自组织量子点单光子发光机理及器件研究进展.主要内容包括：半导体液滴自催化外延GaAs纳米线中InAs量子点和GaAs量子点的单光子发光效应、自组织InAs/GaAs量子点与分布布拉格平面微腔耦合结构的单光子发光效应和器件制备,单量子点发光的共振荧光测量方法、量子点单光子参量下转换实现的纠缠光子发射、单光子的量子存储效应以及量子点单光子发光的光纤耦合输出芯片制备等.     

量子点背光技术的研究进展

量子点材料因具有发光波长可调,色度纯,量子效率高等优异特性而受到广泛关注,在光致发光高色彩显示方面有着巨大的应用潜力。本文综述了量子点背光技术的研究进展,主要对比了QDs On-Chip、QDs On-Surface及QDs On-Edge 3种量子点背光主流技术的基本原理及结构,并分析了它们在液晶显示领域的应用,未来前景及面临的挑战;然后介绍了几种新型的量子点背光技术,并对两种量子点背光新技术进行重点说明:一种是采用低温注塑成型工艺将量子点与高分子材料均匀混合为一体,用于制备直下式背光的量子点体散射型结构扩散板;另一种新技术是采用丝网印刷或喷墨打印工艺将量子点转印至导光板表面,形成应用于侧入式背光的量子点网点微结构导光板。这两种背光都具有制备工艺简单、成本低、生产效率高等特点,对高色域液晶显示的研究及发展意义深远。     

Effect of oxygen content and deposition temperature on the characteristics of thin silver films deposited by magnetron sputtering

Thin silver films were prepared by direct current magnetron sputtering in a single-ended in-line sputter system at various substrate temperatures and in O₂ contents in sputter gas, and their electrical, optical, structural and morphological properties together with the compositional properties were investigated. When deposited at room temperature, the electrical and optical properties of Ag films deteriorated with addition of O₂ to sputter gas. Deposition of Ag films in O₂ added sputter gas promoted the formation of Ag crystallites with (2 0 0) plane parallel to the substrate surface. The electrical resistivity and optical reflection of Ag films deposited above 100 °C were not affected by the sputtering plasma containing oxygen. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analysis showed that Ag films deposited above 100 °C in O₂ added sputter gas did not possess surplus oxygen in the film, and that the oxidation states of these films were almost identical to that of Ag films deposited in pure Ar gas.     

Non-specific interactions of CdTe/Cds Quantum Dots with human blood mononuclear cells

In order to study biological events, researchers commonly use methods based on fluorescence. These techniques generally use fluorescent probes, commonly small organic molecules or fluorescent proteins. However, these probes still present some drawbacks, limiting the detection. Semiconductor nanocrystals - Quantum Dots (QDs) - have emerged as an alternative tool to conventional fluorescent dyes in biological detection due to its topping properties - wide absorption cross section, brightness and high photostability. Some questions have emerged about the use of QDs for biological applications. Here, we use optical tools to study non-specific interactions between aqueous synthesized QDs and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. By fluorescence microscopy we observed that bare QDs can label cell membrane in live cells and also label intracellular compartments in artificially permeabilized cells, indicating that non-specific labeling of sub-structures inside the cells must be considered when investigating an internal target by specific conjugation. Since fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry are complementary techniques (fluorescence microscopy provides a morphological image of a few samples and flow cytometry is a powerful technique to quantify biological events in a large number of cells), in this work we also used flow cytometry to investigate non-specific labeling. Moreover, by using optical tweezers, we observed that, after QDs incubation, zeta potentials in live cells changed to a less negative value, which may indicate that oxidative adverse effects were caused by QDs to the cells.     

Anti-Reflection Characteristics of Si Nanowires for Enhanced Photoluminescence from CdTe/CdS Quantum Dots

CdTe/CdS quantum dots(QDs) are fabricated on Si nanowires(NWs) substrates with and without Au nanoparticles(NPs). The formation of Au NPs on Si NWs can be certified as shown in scanning electron microscopy images. The optical properties of samples are also investigated. It is interesting to find that the photoluminescence(PL) intensity of Cd Te/Cd S QD films on Si nanowire substrates with Au NPs is significantly increased,which can reach 8-fold higher than that of samples on planar Si without Au NPs. The results of finite-difference time-domain simulation indicate that Au NPs induce stronger localization of electric field and then boost the PL intensity of QDs nearby. Furthermore, the time-resolved luminescence decay curve shows the PL lifetime, which is about 5.5 ns at the emission peaks of QD films on planar, increasing from 1.8 ns of QD films on Si NWs to4.7 ns after introducing Au NPs into Si NWs.     

Fabrication and characterization of a PbTe quantum dots multilayer structure

Multilayer PbTe quantum dots (QDs) and SiO₂ were grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) techniques. The crystalline structure, QD size and size dispersion were observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) measurements. This technique allows one to grow PbTe QDs as small as 1.8 nm diameter and 0.6 nm size dispersion. The whole structure can be used in a Fabry–Perot cavity for an optical device operating at the mid-infrared region.     

Effects of a longitudinal magnetic field on spin injection and detection in InAs/GaAs quantum dot structures

Effects of a longitudinal magnetic field on optical spin injection and detection in InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) structures are investigated by optical orientation spectroscopy. An increase in the optical and spin polarization of the QDs is observed with increasing magnetic field in the range 0-2?T, and is attributed to suppression of exciton spin depolarization within the QDs that is promoted by the hyperfine interaction and anisotropic electron-hole exchange interaction. This leads to a corresponding enhancement in spin detection efficiency of the QDs by a factor of up to 2.5. At higher magnetic fields, when these spin depolarization processes are quenched, the electron spin polarization in anisotropic QD structures (such as double QDs that are preferably aligned along a specific crystallographic axis) still exhibits a rather strong field dependence under non-resonant excitation. In contrast, such a field dependence is practically absent in more 'isotropic' QD structures (e.g.?single QDs). We attribute the observed effect to stronger electron spin relaxation in the spin injectors (i.e.?wetting layer and GaAs barriers) of the lower-symmetry QD structures, which also explains the lower spin injection efficiency observed in these structures.     

Modeling and numerical simulation of electrical and optical characteristics of a quantum dot light-emitting diode based on the hopping mobility model: Influence of quantum dot concentration

We present a comprehensive numerical framework for the electrical and optical modeling and simulation of hybrid quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QD-LEDs). We propose a model known as hopping mobility to calculate the carrier mobility in the emissive organic layer doped with quantum dots (QDs). To evaluate the ability of this model to describe the electrical characteristics of QD-LEDs, the measured data of a fabricated QD-LED with different concentrations of QDs in the emissive layer were taken, and the corresponding calculations were performed based on the proposed model. The simulation results indicate that the hopping mobility model can describe the concentration dependence of the electrical behavior of the device. Then, based on the continuity equation for singlet and triplet excitons, the exciton density profiles of the devices with different QD concentrations were extracted. Subsequently, the corresponding luminance characteristics of the devices were calculated, where the results are in good agreement with the experimental data.     

Formation of self-assembled quantum dots of iron oxide thin films by spray pyrolysis from non-aqueous medium

Quantum dots (QDs) of iron oxide have been deposited onto ITO coated glass substrates by spray pyrolysis technique, using ferric chloride (FeCl₃·7H₂O) in non-aqueous medium as a starting material. The non-aqueous solvents namely methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol and pentanol were used as solvents. The effect of solvents on the film structure and morphology was studied. The structural, morphological, compositional and optical properties were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDAX), and optical absorption measurement techniques.     

Use of modified chemical route for ZnSe nanocrystalline thin films growth: Study on surface morphology and physical properties

The zinc selenide thin films have been deposited using modified chemical bath deposition (M-CBD) method. Zinc acetate and sodium selenosulphate were used as Zn²⁺ and Se²⁻ ion sources, respectively. The preparative parameters such as concentration, pH, number of deposition cycles have been optimized in order to deposit ZnSe thin films. The as-deposited ZnSe thin films are specularly reflective and faint yellowish in color. The as-deposited ZnSe films are annealed in an air atmosphere at 473 K for 2 h. The films are characterized using structural, morphological, compositional, optical and electrical properties.     

Steady State and Time Resolved Spectroscopic Study of CdSe and CdSe/ZnS QDs:FRET Approach

This article highlights some physical studies on the relaxation dynamics and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) to proximal dye molecule and the way these phenomena change with core to core-shell QD is discussed. Efforts to understand the optical and carrier relaxation dynamics of CdSe and CdSe/ZnS QDs are made by using absorption, steady-state fluorescence and time-resolved fluorescence (TCSPC) techniques. Steady-state as well as time-resolved fluorescence measurements were employed to evaluate the QD PL quenching induced by the proximal Rhodamine 101 dye molecule and to examine the influence of deep trap states on energy transfer efficiency. The FRET parameters such as spectral overlap, Förster distance, intermolecular distance for each donor-acceptor pair are determined and variation of these parameters from core to core-shell QD is discussed.     

Single-wafer optical processing of semiconductors thin insulator growth for integrated electronic device applications

This paper presents an overview of the single-wafer optical processing techniques for integrated circuit fabrication with an emphasis on their applications to insulator growth. Rapid thermal growth of various thin homogeneous and heterogeneous dielectrics on silicon substrates including silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, nitrided oxides, and composition-tailored insulators will be described and some electronic device applications of the rapidly grown dielectrics will be examined. Multicycle rapid growth processes have been used for dielectric structural engineering and in-situ formation of thin layered insulators. The compositional depth profiles and the electrical characteristics of devices are controlled through the synthesis of an appropriate sequence of the wafer temperature-vs-time profiles and process gas cycles. The ongoing developments and future prospects of single-wafer rapid processing for advanced microelectronics manufacturing will also be discussed.     

Property enhancement of transparent conducting zinc oxide thin films—Effect of simultaneous (Sn+F) doping

Undoped and simultaneously (Sn+F) doped ZnO thin films were fabricated using a simplified spray pyrolysis technique and the effects of Sn doping level on their electrical, structural, optical and surface morphological properties were studied. The XRD patterns confirmed the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO. The minimum electrical resistivity of 0.45×10⁻² Ω cm was obtained for ZnO films having Sn+F doping levels of 8+20 at%. All the films exhibited average optical transmittance of 85% in the visible region, suitable for transparent electrode applications. The overall quality of the fabricated films was confirmed from photoluminescence (PL) studies. The PL and surface morphological studies along with the elemental analysis showed the increase of Sn diffusion into the ZnO lattice which was consistent with the concentration of Sn in the starting solution. The results of the analysis of physical properties of simultaneously doped ZnO films proved that these films might be considered as promising candidates for solar cells and other opto-electronic applications.     

Tuning effects in optimisation of GaAs-based InGaAs/GaAs quantum-dot VCSELs

The comprehensive optical-electrical-thermal-recombination self-consistent simulation of an operation of quantum-dot (QD) VCSELs is used to optimise their structure for GaAs-based oxide-confined QD VCSELs predestinated for the second-generation 1.3-μm optical-fibre communication. It has been found that, contrary to a general belief of lasing thresholds of QD lasers inversely proportional to their density, for any design of QD VCSELs, there exists an optimal QD density ensuring its lowest lasing threshold. Besides, in intentionally strongly detuned QD VCSELs, to reach the desired 1.30-μm radiation, it is superfluous to improve uniformity of their QDs because their lasing thresholds are surprisingly distinctly lower for less uniform QDs. Then for these devices more optimal are somewhat non-uniform QDs and a necessary optical gain may be achieved with the aid of an increasing QD density.     

Effects of two-photon absorption on carrier dynamics in quantum-dot optical amplifiers

We investigate ultrafast gain-dynamics in a quantum-dot (QD) semiconductor optical amplifier where two-photon absorption (TPA) occurs in the bulk region of the waveguide during propagation of a sub-picosecond optical pulse, and gain bleaching occurs in the QD active region. Our calculation reveals that TPA provides optical pumping which is quasi-synchronous in time and space with QD carrier depletion, leading to enhancement of carrier capture into the QDs on an ultrafast timescale. The TPA-induced optical pumping, which is qualitatively different from electrical pumping, changes qualitatively carrier recovery dynamics, reducing pattern effects when a train of optical pulses is injected at the ultra-high speed. PACS 85.60.Bt; 42.79.-e; 07.60.-j