Pulsed laser deposition of uniform semiconductor nanodot arrays

Uniform arrays of silicon (Si), gallium arsenide (GaAs) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanodots have been deposited using Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique combined with a contact mask consisting of nano-holes fabricated by E-beam lithography (EBL). These nanocrystalline semiconductor nanodots have been deposited by PLD on Si and GaAs substrates at room temperature. Characterization of the nanodots has been carried out using different techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), and Raman spectroscopy. This work demonstrates a novel technique for deposition of uniform array of semiconductor nanostructures using a contact mask at room temperature for photonic applications.