Optimization of InAs/GaAs quantum-dot structures and application to 1.3-μm mode-locked laser diodes

The self-assembled growth of InAs/GaAs quantum dots by molecular beam epitaxy is conducted by optimizing several growth parameters, using a one-step interruption method after island formation. The dependence of photoluminescence on areal quantum-dot density is systematically investigated as a function of InAs deposition, growth temperature and arsenic pressure. The results of this investigation along with time-resolved photoluminescence measurements show that the com- bination of a growth temperature of 490℃, with a deposition rate of 0.02 ML/s, under an arsenic pressure of 1×10^-6 Torr （1 Torr = 1.33322×10^2 Pa）, provides the best compromise between high density and the photoluminescence of quantum dot structure, with a radiative lifetime of 780 ps. The applicability of this 5-layer quantum dot structure to high-repetition-rate pulsed lasers is demonstrated with the fabrication and characterization of a monolithic InAs/GaAs quantum-dot passively mode-locked laser operating at nearly 1300 nm. Picosecond pulse generation is achieved from a two-section laser, with a 19.7-GHz repetition rate.     

Extremely low density self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots

The self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots(QDs)with extremely low density of 8×10~6 cm~(-1)are achieved using higher growth temperature and lower InAs coverage by low-pressure metal-organic chemical vapour deposition(MOVCD).As a result of micro-photoluminescence(micro-PL),for extremely low density of 8×10~6 cm~(-1)InAs QDs in the micro-PL measurements at 10 K,only one emission peak has been achieved. It is believed that the InAs QDs have a good potential to realize single photon sources.     

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.     

Theoretical study of quantum confined Stark shift in InAs／GaAs quantum dots

The quantum confined Stark effect (QCSE) of the self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots has been investigated theoretically. The ground-state transition energies for quantum dots in the shape of a cube, pyramid or “truncated pyramid” are calculated and analysed. We use a method based on the Green function technique for calculating thestrain in quantum dots and an efficient plane-wave envelope-function technique to determine the ground-state electronic structure of them with different shapes. The symmetry of quantum dots is broken by the effect of strain. So the properties of carriers show different behaviours from the traditional quantum device. Based on these results, we also calculate permanent built-in dipole moments and compare them with recent experimental data. Our results demonstrate that the measured Stark effect in self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dot structures can be explained by including linear grading.     

Temperature-Dependent Photoluminescence Characteristics of InAs/GaAs Quantum Dots Directly Grown on Si Substrates

The first operation of an electrically pumped 1.3μm InAs/GaAs quantum-dot laser was previously reported epitaxially grown on Si(100) substrate.Here the direct epitaxial growth condition of 1.3-μm InAs/GaAs quantum on a Si substrate is further investigated using atomic force microscopy,etch pit density and temperature-dependent photoluminescence(PL) measurements.The PL for Si-based InAs/GaAs quantum dots appears to be very sensitive to the initial GaAs nucieation temperature and thickness with strongest room-temperature emission at 400℃(170nm nucieation layer thickness),due to the lower density of defects generated under this growth condition,and stronger carrier confinement within the quantum dots.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Bufferless Epitaxial Growth of GaAs on Step-Free Ge(001) Mesa

GaAs/Ge heterostructures have been employed in various semiconductor devices such as solar cells,high-performance CMOS transistors,and Ⅲ-Ⅴ/Ⅳ heterogeneous optoelectronic devices.The performance of these devices is directly dependent on the material quality of the GaAs/Ge heterostructure,while the material quality of the epitaxial GaAs layer on the Ge is limited by issues such as the antiphase domain(APD),and stacking-fault pyramids(SFP).We investigate the epitaxial growth of high-quality GaAs on a Ge(001) mesa array,via molecular beam epitaxy.Following a systematic study of the Ge terrace via an in situ scanning tunneling microscope,an atomically step-free terrace on the Ge mesa measuring up to 5 × 5 μm~2 is obtained,under optimized growth conditions.The step-free terrace has a single-phase c(4 × 2) surface reconstruction.The deposition of a high-quality GaAs layer with no APD and SFP is then achieved on this step-free Ge terrace.High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron channel contrast image characterizations reveal the defect-free growth of the GaAs layer on the step-free Ge mesa.Furthermore,InAs quantum dots on this GaAs/Ge mesa reveal photoluminescent intensity comparable to that achieved on a GaAs substrate,which further confirms the high quality of the GaAs layer on Ge.     

High-performance InAs/GaAs quantum dot laser with dot layers grown at 425℃

We investigate InAs/GaAs quantum dot(QD) lasers grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy with different growth temperatures for InAs dot layers.The same laser structures are grown,but the growth temperatures of InAs dot layers are set as 425 and 500 ℃,respectively.Ridge waveguide laser diodes are fabricated,and the characteristics of the QD lasers are systematically studied.The laser diodes with QDs grown at 425℃ show better performance,such as threshold current density,output power,internal quantum efficiency,and characteristic temperature,than those with QDs grown at 500 C.This finding is ascribed to the higher QD density and more uniform size distribution of QDs achieved at 425℃.     

Extremely Low Density InAs Quantum Dots with No Wetting Layer

Extremely low density InAs quantum dots （QDs） are grown by molecular beam droplet epitaxy. The gallium deposition amount is optimized to saturate exactly the excess arsenic atoms present on the GaAs substrate surface during growth, and low density InAs/GaAs QDs （4× 10^6 cm^-2） are formed by depositing 0.65 monolayers （MLs） of indium. This is much less than the critical deposition thickness （1.7 ML）, which is necessary to form InAs/GaAs QDs with the conventional Stranski-Krastanov growth mode. The narrow photoluminescence linewidth of about 24 meV is insensitive to cryostat temperatures from IO K to 250K. All measurements indicate that there is no wetting layer connecting the QDs.     

PHOTOLUMINESCENCE STUDY OF InAs/GaAs SELF-ORGANIZED QUANTUM DOTS WITH BIMODAL SIZE DISTRIBUTION

We have investigated the temperature dependence of the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum dots. A distinctive double-peak feature of the PL spectra from quantum dots has been observed, and a bimodal distribution of dot sizes has also been confirmed by scanning tunneling microscopy image for uncapped sample. The power-dependent PL study demonstrates that the distinctive PL emission peaks are associated with the ground-state emission of islands in different size branches. The temperature-dependent PL study shows that the PL quenching temperature for different dot families is different. Due to lacking of the couple between quantum dots, an unusual temperature dependence of the linewidth and peak energy of the dot ensemble photoluminescence has not been observed. In addition, we have tuned the emission wavelength of InAs QDs to 1.3 μm at room temperature.     

Molecular beam epitaxy growth of GaAs on an offcut Ge substrate

Molecular beam epitaxy growth of GaAs on an offcut Ge (100) substrate has been systemically investigated. A high quality GaAs/Ge interface and GaAs film on Ge have been achieved. High temperature annealing before GaAs deposition is found to be indispensable to avoid anti-phase domains. The quality of the GaAs film is found to strongly depend on the GaAs/Ge interface and the beginning of GaAs deposition. The reason why both high temperature annealing and GaAs growth temperature can affect epitaxial GaAs film quality is discussed. High quality In_0.17Ga_0.83As/GaAs strained quantum wells have also been achieved on a Ge substrate. Samples show flat surface morphology and narrow photoluminescence line width compared with the same structure sample grown on a GaAs substrate. These results indicate a large application potential for III--V compound semiconductor optoelectronic devices on Ge substrates.     

Low Density Self-Assembled InAs/GaAs Quantum Dots Grown by Metal Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition

The self-assembled InAs quantum dots （QDs） on GaAs substrates with low density （5×10^8 cm^-2） are achieved using relatively higher growth temperature and low InAs coverage by low-pressure metal-organic chemical vapour deposition. The macro-PL spectra exhibit three emission peaks at 1361, 1280 and 1204nm, corresponding to the ground level （GS）, the first excited state （ES1） and the second excited state （ES2） of the QDs, respectively, which are obtained when the GaAs capping layer is grown using triethylgallium and tertiallybutylarsine. As a result of micro-PL, only a few peaks from individual dots have been observed. The exciton-biexciton behaviour was clearly observed at low temperature.     

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.     

Metal–organic–vapor phase epitaxy of InGaN quantum dots and their applications in light-emitting diodes

In GaN quantum dot is a promising optoelectronic material,which combines the advantages of low-dimensional and wide-gap semiconductors.The growth of In GaN quantum dots is still not mature,especially the growth by metal–organic–vapor phase epitaxy(MOVPE),which is challenge due to the lack of 、itin-situ monitoring tool.In this paper,we reviewed the development of In GaN quantum dot growth by MOVPE,including our work on growth of near-UV,green,and red In GaN quantum dots.In addition,we also introduced the applications of In GaN quantum dots on visible light emitting diodes.     

Photoluminescence and lasing properties of InAs/GaAs quantum dots grown by metal-organic chemical vapour deposition

Photoluminescence （PL） and lasing properties of InAs/GaAs quantum dots （QDs） with different growth procedures prepared by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition are studied. PL measurements show that the low growth rate QD sample has a larger PL intensity and a narrower PL line width than the high growth rate sample. During rapid thermal annealing, however, the low growth rate sample shows a greater blueshift of PL peak wavelength. This is caused by the larger InAs layer thickness which results from the larger 2-3 dimensional transition critical layer thickness for the QDs in the low-growth-rate sample. A growth technique including growth interruption and in-situ annealing, named indium flush method, is used during the growth of GaAs cap layer, which can flatten the GaAs surface effectively. Though the method results in a blueshift of PL peak wavelength and a broadening of PL line width, it is essential for the fabrication of room temperature working QD lasers.     

Room temperature continuous wave operation of 1.33-um InAs/GaAs quantum dot laser with high output power

Continuous wave operation of a semiconductor laser diode based on five stacks of InAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded within strained InGaAs quantum wells as an active region is demonstrated. At room temperature, 355-mW output power at ground state of 1.33-1.35μm for a 20-μm ridge-waveguide laser without facet coating is achieved. By optimizing the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth conditions, the QD density per layer is raised to 4×10~(10) cm-2. The laser keeps lasing at ground state until the temperature reaches 65℃.     

The strain relaxation of InAs/GaAs self-organized quantum dot

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the dependence of degree of strain relaxation of the self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum dot on the geometrical parameters. Differently shaped quantum dots arranged with different transverse periods are simulated in this analysis. It investigates the total residual strain energy that stored in the quantum dot and the substrate for all kinds of quantum dots with the same volume, as well as the dependence on both the aspect ratio and transverse period. The calculated results show that when the transverse period is larger than two times the base of the quantum dots, the influence of transverse periods can be ignored. The larger aspect ratio will lead more efficient strain relaxation. The larger angle between the faces and the substrate will lead more efficient strain relaxation. The obtained results can help to understand the shape transition mechanism during the epitaxial growth from the viewpoint of energy, because the strain relaxation is the main driving force of the quantum dot's self-organization.     

Effects of annealing temperature on shape transformation and optical properties of germanium quantum dots

The influences of thermal annealing on the structural and optical features of radio frequency(rf) magnetron sputtered self-assembled Ge quantum dots(QDs) on Si(100) are investigated.Preferentially oriented structures of Ge along the(220) and(111) directions together with peak shift and reduced strain(4.9%to 2.7%) due to post-annealing at 650 ℃ are discerned from x-ray differaction(XRD) measurement.Atomic force microscopy(AFM) images for both pre-annealed and post-annealed(650 ℃) samples reveal pyramidal-shaped QDs(density ~ 0.26×10~(11) cm~(-2)) and dome-shape morphologies with relatively high density ~ 0.92×10~(11) cm~(-2),respectively.This shape transformation is attributed to the mechanism of inter-diffusion of Si in Ge interfacial intermixing and strain non-uniformity.The annealing temperature assisted QDs structural evolution is explained using the theory of nucleation and growth kinetics where free energy minimization plays a pivotal role.The observed red-shift ~ 0.05 eV in addition to the narrowing of the photoluminescence peaks results from thermal annealing,and is related to the effect of quantum confinement.Furthermore,the appearance of a blue-violet emission peak is ascribed to the recombination of the localized electrons in the Ge-QDs/SiO_2 or GeO_x and holes in the ground state of Ge dots.Raman spectra of both samples exhibit an intense Ge-Ge optical phonon mode which shifts towards higher frequency compared with those of the bulk counterpart.An experimental Raman profile is fitted to the models of phonon confinement and size distribution combined with phonon confinement to estimate the mean dot sizes.A correlation between thermal annealing and modifications of the structural and optical behavior of Ge QDs is established.Tunable growth of Ge QDs with superior properties suitable for optoelectronic applications is demonstrated.