Growth of quantum wire arrays by MBE on nonplanar substrates

With single-step molecular beam epitaxy growth, GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wire (QW wire) arrays were fabricated over mesas an GaAs nonplanar substrates patterned by conventional photolithography and wet chemical etching. Faceting and surface migration of atoms during crystal growth resulted in lateral variation in the quantum well (QW) layer thickness on different facet planes. This caused the tops of the mesas to be sharp enough to provide lateral quantum-size-effects (QSEs). In conventional photoluminescence (PL), PL with a micro-optical-system, and photoreflectance measurements under different conditions, a large blue shift was observed in the energy level positions for electronic transitions corresponding to QWs at the tops of mesas compared with those corresponding to QWs on nonpatterned areas of the same substrate. The blue shift was in contradiction with the fact that the GaAs QW layers at the tops of mesas were thicker than those on nanpatterned areas, and illustrated the realization of QW wires at the tops of mesas. Calculations also proved that there was a lateral QSE at the tops of mesas and this was further proof for the formation of QW wires there.