Broadband light emitting from multilayer-stacked InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We report the effect of the GaAs spacer layer thickness on the photoluminescence(PL) spectral bandwidth of InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots(QDs).A PL spectral bandwidth of 158 nm is achieved with a five-layer stack of InAs QDs which has a 11-nm thick GaAs spacer layer.We investigate the optical and the structural properties of the multilayer-stacked InAs/GaAs QDs with different GaAs spacer layer thicknesses.The results show that the spacer thickness is a key parameter affecting the multi-stacked InAs/GaAs QDs for wide-spectrum emission.     

Dependence of bimodal size distribution on temperature and optical properties of InAs quantum dots grown on vicinal GaAs （100） substrates by using MOCVD

Self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) are grown on vicinal GaAs (100) substrates by using metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). An abnormal temperature dependence of bimodal size distribution of InAs quantum dots is found. As the temperature increases, the density of the small dots grows larger while the density of the large dots turns smaller, which is contrary to the evolution of QDs on exact GaAs (100) substrates. This trend is explained by taking into account the presence of multiatomic steps on the substrates. The optical properties of InAs QDs on vicinal GaAs(100) substrates are also studied by photoluminescence (PL) . It is found that dots on a vicinal substrate have a longer emission wavelength, a narrower PL line width and a much larger PL intensity.     

Strain-Engineered Low-Density InAs Bilayer Quantum Dots for Single Photon Emission

We investigate the growth of strain-engineered low-density 1hAs bilayer quantum dots （BQDs） on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy. Owing to increasing dot size and In composition of the upper QDs, low-density BQDs in a GaAs matrix with an emission wavelength up to 1.4 μm at room temperature are achieved. Such a wavelength is larger than that of conventional QDs in a GaAs matrix （generally of about 1.3μm）. The optical properties of the BQDs are sensitive to annealing temperature used after spacer layer growth. Significant decrease of integrated PL intensity is observed as the annealing temperature increases. At 10 K, single photon emission from the BQDs with wavelength around 1.3μm is observed.     

Defect reduction in GaAs/Si film with InAs quantum-dot dislocation filter grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

The growth of GaAs epilayers on silicon substrates with multiple layers of InAs quantum dots(QDs) as dislocation filters by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD) is investigated in detail.The growth conditions of single and multiple layers of QDs used as dislocation filters in GaAs/Si epilayers are optimized.It is found that the insertion of a five-layer InAs QDs into the GaAs buffer layer effectively reduces the dislocation density of GaAs/Si film.Compared with the dislocation density of 5×10~7 cm~(-2) in the GaAs/Si sample without QDs,a density of 2×10~6 cm~(-2) is achieved in the sample with QD dislocation filters.     

Anomalous temperature dependence of photoluminescence spectra from InAs/GaAs quantum dots grown by formation–dissolution–regrowth method

Two kinds of InAs/GaAs quantum dot(QD) structures are grown by molecular beam epitaxy in formation–dissolution–regrowth method with different in-situ annealing and regrowth processes. The densities and sizes of quantum dots are different for the two samples. The variation tendencies of PL peak energy, integrated intensity, and full width at half maximum versus temperature for the two samples are analyzed, respectively. We find the anomalous temperature dependence of the InAs/GaAs quantum dots and compare it with other previous reports. We propose a new energy band model to explain the phenomenon. We obtain the activation energy of the carrier through the linear fitting of the Arrhenius curve in a high temperature range. It is found that the Ga As barrier layer is the major quenching channel if there is no defect in the material. Otherwise, the defects become the major quenching channel when some defects exist around the QDs.     

GaAs-Based Metamorphic Long-Wavelength InAs Quantum Dots Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

A bilayer stacked InAs/GaAs quantum dot structure grown by molecular beam epitaxy on an In0.05Ga0.95As metamorphic buffer is investigated. By introducing a InGaAs：Sb cover layer on the upper InAs quantum dots （QDs） layers, the emission wavelength of the QDs is extended successfully to 1.533 μm at room temperature, and the density of the QDs is in the range of 4× 10^9-8 ×10^9cm^-2. Strong photoluminescence （PL） intensity with a full width at half maximum of 28.6meV of the PL spectrum shows good optical quality of the bilayer QDs. The growth of bilayer QDs on metamorphic buffers offers a useful way to extend the wavelengths of GaAs-based materials for potential applications in optoeleetronic and quantum functional devices.     

Growth and characterization of InAs quantum dots with low-density and long emission wavelength

The growth parameters affecting the deposition of self-assembled InAs quantum dots(QDs)on GaAs sub- strate by low-pressure metal-organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD)are reported,The low-density InAs QDs(～5×10~8 cm~(-2))are achieved using high growth temperature and low InAs coverage.Photolu- minescence(PL)measurements show the good optical quality of low-density QDs.At room temperature, the ground state peak wavelength of PL spectrum and full-width at half-maximum(FWHM)are 1361 nm and 23 meV(35 nm).respectively,which are obtained as the GaAs capping layer grown using triethylgal- lium(TEG)and tertiallybutylarsine(TBA).The PL spectra exhibit three emission peaks at 1361,1280, and 1204 nm,which correspond to the ground state,the first excited state,and the second excited state of the QDs,respectively.     

Growth and characterization of InAs quantum dots with low-density and long emission wavelength

The growth parameters affecting the deposition of self-assembled InAs quantum dots （QDs） on GaAs substrate by low-pressure metal-organic chemical vapor deposition （MOCVD） are reported. The low-density InAs QDs （- 5 × 10^8cm^-2） are achieved using high growth temperature and low InAs coverage. Photoluminescence （PL） measurements show the good optical quality of low-density QDs. At room temperature, the ground state peak wavelength of PL spectrum and full-width at half-maximum （FWHM） are 1361 nm and 23 meV （35 nm）, respectively, which are obtained as the GaAs capping layer grown using triethylgallium （TEG） and tertiallybutylarsine （TBA）. The PL spectra exhibit three emission peaks at 1361, 1280, and 1204 nm, which correspond to the ground state, the first excited state, and the second excited state of the ODs, respectively.     

Effect of GaAs/GaSb Combination Strain-Reducing Layer on Self-Assembled InAs Quantum Dots

Self-assembled quantum dots capping with a GaAs/Gasb combined strain-reduced layer （CSRL） are grown by MBE. Their structural and optical properties are investigated by AFM and photoluminescence （PL）. PL measurements have shown that stronger emission about 1.3μm can be obtained by Sb irradiation and capping QDs with 3 ML GaAs/2 ML GaSh CSRL at room temperature. The full width at half maximum （FWHM） of the PL spectrum is about 20.2 meV （19.9 meV） at room temperature （2OK）, indicating that the QDs have high uniform, The result of FWHM is much better than the recently reported result, which is due to the fact that lower QD growth rate and growth interruption after the QDs deposition are adopted in our experiments.     

Gain Measurement and Anomalous Decrease of Peak Gain at Long Wavelength for InAs/GaAs Quantum-Dot Lasers

Mode gain spectrum is measured by the Fourier series expansion method for InAs/GaAs quantum-dot （QD） lasers with seven stacks of QDs at different injection currents. Gain spectra with distinctive peaks are observed at the short and long wavelengths of about 1210nm and 1300nm. For a QD laser with the cavity length of 1060μm, the peak gain of the long wavelength first increases slowly or even decreases with the injection current as the peak gain of the short wavelength increases quickly, and finally increases quickly before approaching the saturated values as the injection current further increases.     

Sb/As intermixing in self-assembled GaSb/GaAs type II quantum dot systems and control of their photoluminescence spectra

The intermixing of Sb and As atoms induced by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) was investigated for type II GaSb/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots (QD) formed by molecular beam epitaxy growth. Just as in InAs/GaAs QD systems, the intermixing induces a remarkable blueshift of the photoluminescence (PL) peak of QDs and reduces the inhomogeneous broadening of PL peaks for both QD ensemble and wetting layer (WL) as consequences of the weakening of quantum confinement. Contrary to InAs/GaAs QDs systems, however, the intermixing has led to a pronounced exponential increase in PL intensity for GaSb QDs with annealing temperature up to 875 °C. By analyzing the temperature dependence of PL for QDs annealed at 700, 750 and 800 °C, activation energies of PL quenching from QDs at high temperatures are 176.4, 146 and 73.9 meV. The decrease of QD activation energy with annealing temperatures indicates the reduction of hole localization energy in type II QDs due to the Sb/As intermixing. The activation energy for the WL PL was found to drastically decrease when annealed at 800 °C where the QD PL intensity surpassed WL.     

Tuning vertically stacked InAs/GaAs quantum dot properties under spacer thickness effects for 1.3 μm emission

Coherent InAs islands separated by GaAs spacer (d) layers are shown to exhibit self-organized growth along the vertical direction. A vertically stacked layer structure is useful for controlling the size distribution of quantum dots. The thickness of the GaAs spacer has been varied to study its influence on the structural and optical properties. The structural and optical properties of multilayer InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) have been investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The PL full width at half maximum (FWHM), reflecting the size distribution of the QDs, was found to reach a minimum for an inter-dots GaAs spacer layer thickness of 30 monolayers (ML). For the optimized structure, the TEM image shows that multilayer QDs align vertically in stacks with no observation of apparent structural defects. Furthermore, AFM images showed an improvement of the size uniformity of the QDs in the last layer of QDs with respect to the first one. The effect of growth interruption on the optical properties of the optimized sample (E30) was investigated by PL. The observed red shift is attributed to the evolution of the InAs islands during the growth interruption. We show the possibility of increasing the size of the QDs approaching the strategically important 1.3 m wavelength range (at room temperature) with growth interruption after InAs QD deposition.     

Selective growth of stacked InAs quantum dots by using the templates formed by the Nano-Jet Probe

We have demonstrated the selective area growth of stacked self-assembled InAs quantum dot (QD) arrays in the desired regions on a substrate and confirmed the photoluminescence (PL) emission exhibited by them at room temperature. These InAs QDs are fabricated by the use of a specially designed atomic force microscope cantilever referred to as the Nano-Jet Probe (NJP). By using the NJP, two-dimensional arrays with ordered In nano-dots are fabricated in the desired square regions on a GaAs substrate and directly converted into InAs QD arrays through the subsequent annealing by the irradiation of As flux. By using the converted QD arrays as strain templates, self-organized InAs QDs are stacked. These stacked QDs exhibit the PL emission peak at a wavelength of 1.02 μm.     

GaAs间隔层厚度对InAs/GaAs量子点分子光学性质的影响

采用光致荧光发射谱(PL)和时间分辨荧光发射谱(TRPL)研究了GaAs间隔层厚度对自组装生长的双层InAs/GaAs量子点分子光学性质的影响.首先,测量低温下改变激发强度的PL谱,底层量子点和顶层量子点的PL强度比值随激发强度发生变化,表明两层量子点之间的耦合作用和层间载流子的转移随着间隔层厚度变大而变弱.接着测量改变温度的PL谱,量子点荧光光谱峰值位置(Emax)、半峰全宽及积分强度随温度发生变化,表明GaAs间隔层厚度直接影响到量子点内载流子的动力学过程和量子点发光的热淬灭过程.最后,TRPL测量发现60mL比40mL间隔层厚度样品的载流子隧穿时间有明显延长.     

Bandgap engineering of self-assembled InAs quantum dots with a thin AlAs barrier

We investigate the effects of a thin AlAs layer with different position and thickness on the optical properties of InAs quantum dots (QDs) by using transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence (PL). The energy level shift of InAs QD samples is observed by introducing the thin AlAs layer without any significant loss of the QD qualities. The emission peak from InAs QDs directly grown on the 4 monolayer (ML) AlAs layer is blueshifted from that of reference sample by 219 meV with a little increase in FWHM from 42–47 meV for ground state. In contrast, InAs QDs grown under the 4 ML AlAs layer have PL peak a little redshifted to lower energy by 17 meV. This result is related to the interdiffusion of Al atom at the InAs QDs caused by the annealing effect during growing of InAs QDs on AlAs layer.     

Effects of rapid thermal annealing on the optical properties of InAs/(In)GaAs quantum dots with different areal density

The effects of rapid thermal annealing on the optical properties of InAs/(In)GaAs quantum dots (QDs) with different areal density were investigated by photoluminescence (PL) measurement. The annealing results in PL peak energy blue-shift which strongly depends on QD areal density and capping layer. It is noticeable that low-density QDs and/or InGaAs-capped QDs are more sensitive to the annealing. We attribute the larger energy blue-shift from these samples to enhanced strain-driven diffusion and/or defect-assisted diffusion.     

Inhibition of emission wavelength blueshift in annealed InAs/GaAs quantum dot stacks: an important observation for their potential application in photovoltaic devices

We have investigated the effect of post growth rapid thermal annealing on self-assembled InAs/GaAs multilayer QDs (MQD) overgrown with a combination barrier of InAlGaAs and GaAs for their possible use in photovoltaic device application. The samples were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence measurements. We noticed a thermally induced material interdiffusion between the QDs and the wetting layer in the MQD sample up to a certain annealing temperature. The QD heterostructure exhibited a thermal stability in the emission peak wavelength on annealing up to 700 ^°C temperature. A phenomenological model has been proposed for this stability of the emission peak. The model considers the effect of the strain field, propagating from the underlying QD layer to the upper layers of the multilayer QD and the effect of indium atom gradient in the combination barrier layer due to the presence of a quaternary InAlGaAs layer.     

Effects of thermal annealing on the interband transitions of single and vertically stacked InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots

Photoluminescence (PL) measurements have been carried out to investigate the annealing effects in one-period and three-periods of InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) grown on GaAs substrates by using molecular beam epitaxy. After annealing, the PL spectra for the annealed InAs/GaAs QDs showed dramatic blue shifts and significant linewidth narrowing of the PL peaks compared with the as-grown samples. The variations in the PL peak position and the full width at half-maximum of the PL peak are attributed to changes in the composition of the InAs QDs resulting from the interdiffusion between the InAs QDs and the GaAs barrier and to the size homogeneity of the QDs. These results indicate that the optical properties and the crystal qualities of InAs/GaAs QDs are dramatically changed by thermal treatment.     

Continuous wavelength tuning of InAs quantum dots on InP (1 0 0) and (3 1 1)A substrates by chemical-beam epitaxy

The growth of InAs quantum dots (QDs) on InP (1 0 0) and (3 1 1)A substrates by chemical-beam epitaxy is studied. The InAs QDs are embedded in a GaInAsP layer lattice-matched to InP. We demonstrate an effective way to continuously tune the emission wavelength of InAs QDs grown on InP (1 0 0). With an ultra-thin GaAs layer inserted between the QD layer and the GaInAsP buffer, the peak wavelength from the InAs QDs can be continuously tuned from above 1.6 μm down to 1.5 μm at room temperature. The major role of the thin GaAs layer is to greatly suppress the As/P exchange during the deposition of InAs and subsequent growth interruption under arsenic flux, as well as to consume the segregated In layer floating on the GaInAsP buffer. Moreover, it is found that InP (3 1 1)A substrates are particularly promising for formation of uniform InAs QDs. The growth of InAs on InP (3 1 1)A consists of two stages: nanowire formation due to strain-driven growth instability and subsequent QD formation on top of the wires. The excellent size uniformity of the InAs QDs obtained on InP (3 1 1)A manifests itself in the narrow photoluminescence line width of 26 meV at 4.8 K.     

InAs/GaAs单量子点中电子/空穴自旋弛豫

利用分子束外延制备了三种类型量子点样品,它们分别是:未掺杂样品、n型Si调制掺杂样品和p型Be调制掺杂样品。在5 K温度下,采用共聚焦显微镜系统,测量了单量子点的光致发光谱和时间分辨光谱, 研究了单量子点中三种类型激子(本征激子、负电荷激子和正电荷激子)的电子/空穴自旋翻转时间。它们的自旋翻转时间常数分别为: 本征激子的自旋翻转时间约16 ns, 正电荷激子中电子的自旋翻转时间约2 ns, 负电荷激子中空穴的自旋翻转时间约50 ps。