Formation and Characterization of 1.5-Monolayer Self-Assembled InAs/GaAs Quantum Dots Using Postgrowth Annealing

In this paper, we report that low-density InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) can be formed by postgrowth annealing the samples with 1.5-monolayer (ML) InAs coverage, which is thinner than the critical layer thickness for the Stranski-Krastanov growth. The annealing procedure was performed immediately after the deposition of the InAs layer. The effects of annealing time and annealing temperature on the dot density, dot size, and optical characteristics of the QDs were investigated. The optimum annealing conditions to obtain low-density QDs are longer than 60 s and higher than 500degC . Meanwhile, no luminescence can be observed for the wetting-layer, which may suggest that the postgrowth annealing will make the wetting layer thinner and thus reduce the effects of wetting layer on carrier relaxation and recombination. On the other hand, we observe that a decrease of the PL intensity at the annealing conditions of 60 s and 515degC , which is possibly due to the increasing surface dislocations resulted from the In adatom desorption at higher annealing temperature.     

High Hole Mobility of GaSb Relaxed Epilayer Grown on GaAs Substrate by MOCVD through Interfacial Misfit Dislocations Array

The structural property of GaSb epilayers grown on semi-insulator GaAs (001) substrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using Triethylgallium (TEGa) and trimethylantimony (TMSb),was investigated by variation of the Sb:Ga (V/III) ratio.An optimum V/III ratio of 1.4 was determined in our growth conditions.Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM),we found that there was an interfacial misfit dislocations (IMF) growth mode in our experiment,in which the large misfit strain between epilayer and substrate is relaxed by periodic 90 deg.IMF array at the hetero-epitaxial interface.The rms roughness of a 300 nm-thick GaSb layer is only 2.7 nm in a 10 μm×10 μm scan from atomic force microscopy (AFM) result.The best hole density and mobility of 300 nm GaSb epilayer are 5.27×10 6 cm 3 (1.20×10 6) and 553 cm 2 ·V 1 ·s 1 (2340) at RT (77 K) from Hall measurement,respectively.These results indicate that the IMF growth mode can be used in MOCVD epitaxial technology similar to molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technology to produce the thinner GaSb layer with low density of dislocations and other defects on GaAs substrate for the application of devices.     

超高真空化学气相淀积自组织生长锗量子点

采用超高真空化学气相淀积系统制备了小尺寸、高密度、纵向自对准的Ge量子点．通过TEM和AFM对埋层和上层量子点的形貌和尺寸分布进行了研究，对生长的温度和时间进行了优化．采用硼预淀积的方法得到了尺寸分布小于3％的均匀的圆顶形Ge量子点．采用低温光荧光测量了多层量子点的光学特性．在10K的PL谱可以观察到明显的蓝移现象，表明量子点中较强的量子限制效应．量子点非声子峰的半高宽约为46meV，表明采用UHV／CVD工艺生长的多层量子点具有较窄的尺寸分布．     

应力补偿技术在InAs/GaAs量子点中的研究现状

通过在多层量子点体系中引入应变补偿层,改变量子点系统的应力场分布,可以控制生长过程中量子点的大小均匀性和密度,最终获得高质量、高密度的多层量子点体系,应用到量子点光电器件中,可改善器件的电学和光学性能。介绍了应变补偿层在量子点体系中作用的原理,常用的应变补偿材料体系,以及目前国内外对应变补偿技术的研究状况,最后提出了现存的问题和今后的发展方向。     

Spin-Cast Deposition of CdSe-CdS Core-Shell Colloidal Quantum Dots on Doped GaAs Substrates: Structural and Optical Characterization

The detailed study of the effects of spin recipe and GaAs substrate doping (i.e., semi-insulating, n-type, or p-type) on the structural and optical properties of spin-cast CdSe-CdS core-shell CQDs provides insight into the surface adsorption and charge transfer mechanisms that will influence any potential optoelectronic device. The hypotheses of this study are: i) it is possible to establish spin-casting recipes that yield a thin film of CQDs with large surface density and uniform size, and ii) it is possible to control the optical response of CQDs by varying the GaAs substrate doping to influence charge transfer processes. As a result of these measurements, we have been able to demonstrate a strong dependence of spin-cast CQD structural properties on the doping type of the GaAs substrate, as well as evidence from measured optical properties to support the idea that hot carriers photoexcited in the GaAs substrate are transferred either to the CQD surface states through organic surface ligands or directly to confined states within the CQD.     

Optical investigation of GaSb thin films grown on GaAs by metalorganic magnetron sputtering

Metalorganic magnetron sputtering (MOMS) technology has been applied to the growth of epitaxial GaSb layers on GaAs (001). Optical studies are performed on a series of GaSb/GaAs samples grown under different growth conditions. Raman scattering measurements indicated the improvement of the crystalline quality of the GaSb thin film from the interface toward the surface with decreasing substrate growth temperature from 480 °C to 400 °C. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) reflectance revealed the possible existence of an intermixed GaSb-GaAs layer near the interface. In UV reflectance spectra, the shapes of the high energy transition bands were found to be associated with the GaSb film quality.     

离子注入诱导硅材料发光的研究进展

阐述了采用离子注入技术在硅晶体(Si)中形成缺陷的发光机制,综述了离子注入诱导硅材料发光的研究进展,包括稀土离子掺入硅晶体形成稀土杂质中心发光,Ⅳ族元素C、Ge离子注入Si/SiO2形成等离子缺陷中心发光,以及B、S、P等常规离子注入硅晶体的缺陷发光,其中重点介绍了Si离子自注入诱导硅材料发光的研究现状,最后展望了硅基材料发光的未来发展。     

Ge/Si量子点生长的研究进展

回顾了近年来在Ge/Si量子点生长方面的研究进展.主要讨论了为了提高量子点空间分布有序性、增大量子点的密度、减小量子点的尺寸及改善其分布均匀性而采取的各种方法,如图形衬底辅助生长、表面原子掺杂及利用超薄SiO2层辅助生长等,以及Ge量子点的演变及组分变化.     

Optical and Magnetic Properties of Ten-Period InGaMnAs/GaAs Quantum Wells

Ten layers of InGaMnAs/GaAs multiquantum wells (MQWs) structure were grown on high resistivity (100) p-type GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). A presence of the ferromagnetic structure was confirmed in the InGaMnAs/GaAs MQWs structure, and have ferromagnetic ordering with a Curie temperature, T _C=50 K. It is likely that the ferromagnetic exchange coupling of the sample with T _C=50 K is hole-mediated resulting in Mn substituting In or Ga sites. PL emission spectra of the InGaMnAs MQWs sample grown at a temperature of 170 °C show that an activation energy of the Mn ion on the first quantum confinement level in InGaAs QW is 32 meV and impurity Mn is partly ionized. The fact that the activation energy of 32 meV of Mn ion in the QW is lower than an activation energy of 110 meV for a substitutional Mn impurity in GaAs, indicating an impurity band existing in the bandgap due to substitutional Mn ions.     

Optical Characteristics and the Linewidth Enhancement Factor Measured from InAs/GaAs Quantum Dot Laser Diodes

We report the optical characteristics and the linewidth enhancement factor (alpha-factor) of InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) laser diodes (LDs) with a 5-mum-wide stripe and 1-mm-long cavity. Continuous wave (CW) operation of the laser yielded a kink-free output power of 160 mW with an external efficiency of 0.35 W/A. The threshold current was 28 mA and the lasing occurred at 1286 nm, solely at the ground state (GS) up to a current of 345 mA, without switching to the excited state (ES). Then, to estimate the alpha-factor of the LDs, we investigated the differential gain and wavelength shift versus the current. The differential gain was 2.37 cm^-1/mA at 1286 nm, and the wavelength shift was 0.00046 nm/mA, which resulted in an alpha-factor of 0.057 at 1286 nm. The alpha-factor decreased with increasing wavelength. To the best of our knowledge, this is the lowest value of the alpha-factor that has been reported so far, indicating that our QD-LD has excellent beam quality under high-power operation due to the elimination of the filamentation.     

InP量子点的掺杂及其光学性能

采用原位成核掺杂法合成了Li、Zn金属离子掺杂的InP量子点(分别记为Li: InP和Zn: InP), 并研究了掺杂剂对量子点的结构、尺寸和光学性能的影响。研究结果表明, Li⁺、Zn²⁺掺杂的InP量子点结晶度较高且尺寸均匀。虽然Li⁺掺杂未引起InP量子点的结构发生变化, Li⁺未进入InP晶格, 但是抑制了InP量子点的成核与长大, 使其吸收谱和荧光谱均发生大幅度的蓝移。Zn掺杂同样也抑制InP量子点的成核与长大, 并且形成InP/Zn₃P₂/ZnO复合核壳结构, 显著增强了InP量子点的荧光, 尤其是当Zn掺杂浓度(Zn/In原子比)为0.2时, InP量子点的荧光强度增加近100多倍, 这对短波长InP量子点的合成具有一定的参考价值。     

Cathodoluminescence of GaSb/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots grown by MOCVD

Cathodoluminesence (CL) studies were performed for GaSb self-assembled quantum dots grown by atmospheric pressure metalorganic chemical vapour deposition on GaAs substrates. The evolution of quantum dot size and density was examined for samples grown for different periods. The CL peaks shifted to higher energies from 0.95 to 1.05 eV as the dot growth time increased from 3 to 7 s. This trend indicates a significant size quantisation effect for partially relaxed structures.     

In Situ Investigation on the Protein Corona Formation of Quantum Dots by Using Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer

A fundamental understanding of nanoparticle–protein corona and its interactions with biological systems is essential for future application of engineered nanomaterials. In this work, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) is employed for studying the protein adsorption behavior of nanoparticles. The adsorption of human serum albumin (HSA) onto the surface of InP@ZnS quantum dots (QDs) with different chirality (d ‐ and l ‐penicillamine) shows strong discernible differences in the binding behaviors including affinity and adsorption orientation that are obtained upon quantitative analysis of FRET data. Circular dichroism spectroscopy further confirms the differences in the conformational changes of HSA upon interaction with d ‐ and l ‐chiral QD surfaces. Consequently, the formed protein corona on chiral surfaces may affect their following biological interactions, such as possible protein exchange with serum proteins plasma as well as cellular interactions. These results vividly illustrate the potential of the FRET method as a simple yet versatile platform for quantitatively investigating biological interactions of nanoparticles.     

Size-dependent Tunneling and Optical Spectroscopy of InAs Nanocrystal Quantum Dots

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy is used to investigate singleInAs nanocrystals, 2 to 8 nm in diameter. The tunnelingcurrent-voltage characteristics exhibit a pronounced sizedependence of both single electron charging energy andquantum-confined electronic states. These are well describedusing the Orthodox Model for single electron tunnelingthrough a quantum dot with a discrete level structure. Quantumconfined states having atomic-like S and P symmetries aredirectly identified in the tunneling spectra as two andsixfold single electron charging multiplets, respectively. Thetunneling spectra acquired on un-passivated nanocrystals showclear evidence of sub-gap surface states. Surprisingly,excellent agreement is found between the strongly allowedoptical transitions and spacing of levels detected in thetunneling experiment.     

含氮石墨烯量子点的制备及其光学性质研究

采用水热法一步合成了含氮石墨烯量子点(NGQDs), 通过原子力显微镜(AFM)、透射电镜(TEM)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)等对NGQDs的形貌和组成进行表征, 并进一步通过紫外-可见光谱(UV-Vis)、荧光光谱(PL)等手段研究了NGQDs的光学性质。AFM和TEM分析结果表明, NGQDs尺寸约为8.9 nm、厚度为0.6 ~2.0 nm (即1~3个碳原子层)。XPS分析结果表明NGQDs中氮含量约为17%, 且氮元素主要以“吡咯N”形式存在。光谱学实验表明, NGQDs的激发光谱与吸收光谱基本一致, 且其发射光谱与激发波长之间不存在依赖关系。此外, NGQDs的量子产率为~18%, 并随着含氮量的增加而增加, 且其荧光寿命衰变曲线可以被拟合成很好的双指数衰变曲线(τ₁=2.93 ns, τ₂=9.00 ns), 表明NGQDs有两种发色源, 即边缘富有含氧官能团的sp²碳簇和含氮五元环-吡咯环。     

羧基CdSe荧光量子点的制备及其荧光特性研究

以氯化镉、硒粉为前驱体,巯基乙酸(TGA)为稳定剂,制备了羧基CdSe量子点,并研究了其荧光特性与影响因素。结果表明,反应温度、反应时间与反应体系的pH值是影响量子点生长和荧光性能的主要因素。制备羧基CdSe量子点的最优条件为反应温度90℃、pH=11、n(Cd)∶n(Se)=2∶1。制备的羧基CdSe量子点的粒径随反应时间的延长而逐渐增大,量子点荧光稳定性好,荧光强度高,光漂白时间延长。     

Growth and Spectroscopy of CdSe: Mn Quantum Dots

In this paper we report the growth and optical properties of ZnSe/CdSe:Mn magnetic quantum dots by Atomic Layer Epitaxy. For the uncapped samples, dot densities of the order of 10⁹ cm^–2 were measured by Atomic Force Microscopy. The ensemble dot photoluminescence (PL) was observed over a range of energies between 2.1 and 2.5 eV, and a spectrally broad emission at 2.15 eV from the internal Mn²⁺ transition was observed at high Mn concentrations. Single dot spectroscopy was carried out by confocal microscopy and the PL line width was measured as a function of Mn concentration. For large Mn contents the temporal change in magnetization causes a broadening of the single dot PL line of up to 4 meV FWHM. However, for low concentrations the single dot PL line widths were resolution limited at <0.2 meV.