Germanium quantum dots in an unstrained GaAs/ZnSe/Ge/ZnSe heterosystem

Arrays of Ge quantum dots in unstrained GaAs/ZnSe/Ge heterostructures were obtained by molecular-beam epitaxy for the first time. Their spatial parameters are examined by scanning tunneling microscopy, and their electronic structure is studied by Raman spectroscopy.     

Light-emitting tunneling nanostructures based on quantum dots in a Si and GaAs matrix

InGaAs/GaAs and Ge/Si light-emitting heterostructures with active regions consisting of a system of different-size nanoobjects, i.e., quantum dot layers, quantum wells, and a tunneling barrier are studied. The exchange of carriers preceding their radiative recombination is considered in the context of the tunneling interaction of nanoobjects. For the quantum well-InGaAs quantum dot layer system, an exciton tunneling mechanism is established. In such structures with a barrier thinner than 6 nm, anomalously fast carrier (exciton) transfer from the quantum well is observed. The role of the above-barrier resonance of states, which provides “instantaneous” injection into quantum dots, is considered. In Ge/Si structures, Ge quantum dots with heights comparable to the Ge/Si interface broadening are fabricated. The strong luminescence at a wavelength of 1.55 μm in such structures is explained not only by the high island-array density. The model is based on (i) an increase in the exciton oscillator strength due to the tunnel penetration of electrons into the quantum dot core at low temperatures (T < 60 K) and (ii) a redistribution of electronic states in the Δ₂-Δ₄ subbands as the temperature is increased to room temperature. Light-emitting diodes are fabricated based on both types of studied structures. Configuration versions of the active region are tested. It is shown that selective pumping of the injector and the tunnel transfer of “cold” carriers (excitons) are more efficient than their direct trapping by the nanoemitter.     

Formation of InAs quantum dots in a GaAs matrix during growth on misoriented substrates

The formation of InAs quantum dots grown by submonolayer migration-enhanced molecular-beam epitaxy on GaAs(100) surfaces with various misorientation angles and directions is investigated. It is shown for the deposition of 2 monolayers (ML) of InAs that increasing the misorientation angle above 3° along the [010], , and [011] directions leads to the formation of several groups of quantum dots differing in geometric dimensions and electronic structure. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 32, 95–100 (January 1998)     

CdSe/ZnSe量子点的合成与荧光特性

采用低温成核生长与一步法相结合的方式合成了CdSe/ZnSe核壳结构量子点,并通过吸收光谱、荧光光谱、X射线衍射等分析手段证明了ZnSe壳层包覆成功.对加入空穴传输材料后CdSe/ZnSe量子点的荧光变化情况进行了深入的研究.稳态光谱结果表明.空穴传输材料对量子点发光有较强的淬灭作用;时间分辨光谱结果显示,随着空穴传输材料分子浓度的增加,量子点的荧光寿命明显缩短,其荧光淬灭过程可以解释为静态淬灭和动态淬灭过程.静态淬灭来源于量子点表面与空穴传输材料间的相互作用;而动态淬灭则来源于量子点到空穴传输材料的空穴转移过程.因此,量子点的壳层结构及空穴传输材料的种类对量子点的荧光淬灭起关键作用.     

Study of phonons in self-organized multiple Ge quantum dots

Raman scattering measurements were carried out in a self-organized multi-layered Ge quantum dot sample, which was grown using solid-source molecular-beam epitaxy, and consisted of 25 periods of 20-Å-high Ge quantum dots sandwiched by 20-nm Si spacers. The Ge-Ge optical phonon mode was found at 298.2 cm^?1, which was tuned by the phonon confinement and strain effects. Acoustic phonons related to Ge quantum dots have also been demonstrated.     

Calculation of the surface characteristics and pressures of InAs quantum dots in a GaAs matrix

A theoretical model for calculating the energy characteristics of surfaces of InAs quantum dots in a GaAs(100) matrix is described. The model is based on notions of nonequilibrium thermodynamics and surface physics. The results of calculating the magnitudes of the surface energy and adhesion physical quantities as well as pressures in the vicinity of the edges of InAs quantum dots in a GaAs(100) matrix are presented. The causes of bending of the profile of the lower part of the quantum dot are presented using the Young relationship. These results can be used to asses the stress-relaxation mechanisms during the course of the selforganization of InAs quantum dots in a GaAs(100) matrix.     

Photoconductivity of Si/Ge multilayer structures with Ge quantum dots pseudomorphic to the Si matrix

Longitudinal photoconductivity spectra of Si/Ge multilayer structures with Ge quantum dots grown pseudomorphically to the Si matrix are studied. Lines of optical transitions between hole levels of quantum dots and Si electronic states are observed. This allowed us to construct a detailed energy-level diagram of electron-hole levels of the structure. It is shown that hole levels of pseudomorphic Ge quantum dots are well described by the simplest “quantum box” model using actual sizes of Ge islands. The possibility of controlling the position of the long-wavelength photosensitivity edge by varying the growth parameters of Si/Ge structures with Ge quantum dots is determined.     

Effects of GaAs-spacer strain on vertical ordering of stacked InAs quantum dots in a GaAs matrix

Vertical ordering in stacked layers of InAs/GaAs quantum dots is currently the focus of scientific research because of its potential for optoelectronics applications. Transmission electron microscopy was applied to study InAs/GaAs stacked layers grown by molecular-beam-epitaxy with various thicknesses of GaAs spacer. Thickness dependencies of quantum dot size and their ordering were observed experimentally and, then, compared with the results of strain calculations based on the finite element method. The vertical ordering did occur when the thickness of the GaAs spacer was comparable with the dot height. The ordering was found to be associated with relatively large InAs dots on the first layer. Quantum dots tend to become larger in size and more regular in plane with increasing numbers of stacks. Our results suggest that the vertical ordering is not only affected by strain from the InAs dots on the lower layer, but by total strain configuration in the multi-stacked structure.     

Photoelectric properties of GaAs/InAs heterostructures with quantum dots

The capacitive photovoltage and photoconductivity spectra of GaAs/InAs heterostructures with quantum dots is discussed. For these structures, which were fabricated by metallorganic gas-phase epitaxy, the photosensitivity spectrum has a sawtoothed shape in the wavelength range where absorption by the quantum dots takes place, which is characteristic of a δ-function-like density of states function. The spectra also exhibit photosensitivity bands associated with the formation of single-layer InAs quantum wells in the structure. An expression is obtained for the absorption coefficient of an ensemble of quantum dots with a prespecified size distribution. It is shown that the energy distribution of the joint density of states, the surface density of quantum dots, and the effective cross section for trapping a photon can all be determined by analyzing the photosensitivity spectrum based on this assumption. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 31, 1100–1105 (September 1997)     

Photoluminescence properties of cadmium-selenide quantum dots embedded in a liquid-crystal polymer matrix

The photoluminescence properties of cadmium-selenide (CdSe) quantum dots with an average size of ～3 nm, embedded in a liquid-crystal polymer matrix are studied. It was found that an increase in the quantum-dot concentration results in modification of the intrinsic (exciton) photoluminescence spectrum in the range 500–600 nm and a nonmonotonic change in its intensity. Time-resolved measurements show the biexponential decay of the photoluminescence intensity with various ratios of fast and slow components depending on the quantum-dot concentration. In this case, the characteristic lifetimes of exciton photoluminescence are 5–10 and 35–50 ns for the fast and slow components, respectively, which is much shorter than the times for colloidal CdSe quantum dots of the same size. The observed features of the photoluminescence spectra and kinetics are explained by the effects of light reabsorption, energy transfer from quantum dots to the liquid-crystal polymer matrix, and the effect of the electronic states at the CdSe/(liquid crystal) interface.     

MO-PPV/ZnSe量子点复合材料的制备及光致发光特性研究

采用水相法制备了颗粒尺寸为3.75nm的硒化锌(ZnSe)量子点,采用表面活性剂将ZnSe量子点转移到有机相聚(2-甲氧基-5-辛氧基)对苯乙炔(MO-PPV)中,获得了MO-PPV/ZnSe复合材料。通过对MO-PPV和ZnSe量子点的吸收光谱(ABS)和光致发光(PL)光谱的研究发现,随着ZnSe量子点掺杂浓度的提高,复合材料的发光强度明显增强,发光峰位置出现了蓝移。当ZnSe∶MO-PPV的质量比为1∶0.181时,发光峰位置蓝移10nm。结果表明,MO-PPV与ZnSe量子点之间存在着能量传递,这是导致MO-PPV/ZnSe量子点复合材料具有PL增强的重要原因。     

Growth and photoluminescence study of ZnSe quantum dots

We report detailed photoluminescence (PL) studies of ZnSe quantum dots grown by controlling the flow duration of the precursors in a metal-organic chemical vapor deposition system. The growth time of the quantum dots determines the amount of blue shift observed in the PL measurements. Blue shift as large as 320 meV was observed, and the emission was found to persist up to room temperature. It is found that changing the flow rate and the total number of quantum dot layers also affect the peak PL energy. The temperature dependence of the peak PL energy follows the Varshni relation. From analyzing the temperature-dependent integrated intensity of the photoluminescence spectra, it is found that the activation energy for the quenching of photoluminescence increases with decreasing quantum dot size, and is identified as the binding energy of the exciton in ZnSe quantum dot.     

Temperature dependent optical properties of self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We report photoluminescence (PL), time-resolved PL, and PL excitation experiments on InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) of different size as a function of temperature. The results indicate that both the inhomogeneous properties of the ensemble and the intrinsic properties of single QDs are important in understanding the temperature-dependence of the optical properties. With increasing temperature, excitons are shown to assume a local equilibrium distribution between the localized QD states, whereas the formation of a position-independent Fermi-level is prevented by carrier-loss to the barrier dominating thermally stimulated lateral carrier transfer. The carrier capture rate is found to decrease with increasing temperature and, at room temperature, long escape-limited ground state lifetimes of some 10 ps are estimated. PL spectra excited resonantly in the ground state transition show matching ground state absorption and emission, indicating the intrinsic nature of exciton recombination in the QDs. Finally, the PL excitation spectra are shown to reveal size-selectively the QD absorption, demonstrating the quantum-size effect of the excited state splitting.     

Optical properties of CdSe quantum dots grown on ZnSe and ZnBeSe by molecular beam epitaxy

We report detailed studies of the optical properties of CdSe quantum dots (QDs) grown on ZnSe and ZnBeSe by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE). We performed steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements and observe that nonradiative processes dominate at room temperature (RT) in the CdSe/ZnBeSe QDs structures, though these nonradiative processes do not dominate in the CdSe/ZnSe QDs structures up to RT. We performed secondary ion-mass spectrometry (SIMS) measurement and propose that the oxygen incorporation in the ZnBeSe layers (possibly caused by the reactivity of Be) may contribute to the dominant nonradiative processes at high temperatures in the QDs grown on ZnBeSe.     

Effect of the cap-layer composition on the electronic properties of InAs/GaAs quantum dots

The capping of an array of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots by an InGaAs quantum-well layer leads to an increase in their size due to indium enrichment of the region near the top of the quantum dots, which decreases the energy of the ground-state optical transition in quantum dots by 50 meV and shifts the hole wave function toward the top of the quantum dot.     

Effect of local structural defects on the precipitation of as in the vicinity of InAs quantum dots in a GaAs matrix

Electron-microscopy studies of GaAs structures grown by the method of molecular-beam epitaxy and containing arrays of semiconductor InAs quantum dots and metallic As quantum dots are performed. An array of InAs quantum dots is formed using the Stranski-Krastanow mechanism and consists of five layers of vertically conjugated quantum dots divided by a 5-nm-thick GaAs spacer layer. The array of As quantum dots is formed in an As-enriched GaAs layer grown at a low temperature above an array of InAs quantum dots using postgrowth annealing at temperatures of 400–600°C for 15 min. It is found that, during the course of structure growth near the InAs quantum dots, misfit defects are formed; these defects are represented by 60° or edge dislocations located in the heterointerface plane of the semiconductor quantum dots and penetrating to the surface through a layer of “low-temperature” GaAs. The presence of such structural defects leads to the formation of As quantum dots in the vicinity of the middle of the InAs conjugated quantum dots beyond the layer of “low-temperature” GaAs.     

Structural and optical properties of InAs quantum dots in AlGaAs matrix

Structural and optical properties of InAs quantum dots (QDs) grown in a wide-bandgap Al_0.3Ga_0.7As matrix is studied. It is shown that a high temperature stability of optical properties can be achieved owing to deep localization of carriers in a matrix whose band gap is wider than that in GaAs. Specific features of QD formation were studied for different amounts of deposited InAs. A steady red shift of the QD emission peak as far as ∼1.18 μm with the effective thickness of InAs in Al_0.3Ga_0.7As increasing was observed at room temperature. This made it possible to achieve a much higher energy of exciton localization than for QDs in a GaAs matrix. To obtain the maximum localization energy, the QD sheet was overgrown with an InGaAs layer. The possibility of reaching the emission wavelength of ~1.3 μm is demonstrated. __________ Translated from Fizika i Tekhnika Poluprovodnikov, Vol. 37, No. 5, 2003, pp. 578–582. Original Russian Text Copyright ? 2003 by Sizov, Samsonenko, Tsyrlin, Polyakov, Egorov, Tonkikh, Zhukov, Mikhrin, Vasil’ev, Musikhin, Tsatsul’nikov, Ustinov, Ledentsov.     

The engineering and properties of InAs quantum dot molecules in a GaAs matrix

Arrays of InAs quantum dot (QD) molecules in the GaAs matrix, which consist of pairs of vertically aligned InAs QDs, have been synthesized by molecular beam epitaxy. A study of the resulting structures by transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that the vertically aligned QDs are equal in size. Photoluminescence measurements revealed that the spectra of the samples under study contain bands corresponding to electronic states in QD molecules.     

Synthesis and characterization of blue emitting ZnSe quantum dots

In this work we show a new experimental methodology to obtain ZnSe nanocrystals in aqueous solution aiming their application as biophotonic probes. The nanocrystals were obtained using a simple procedure based on the arrested precipitation of ZnSe in aqueous solution in the presence of a thiol-alkyl stabilizing agent, in air and at room temperature. Using post-preparative experimental procedures on the colloidal particles, blue and green emissions were observed. The structural characterization (powder X-ray diffraction and electronic transmission microscopy) shows that the particles were obtained in the quantum confinement regime (d=2-4 nm) and possess a zinc-blend crystalline structure. The optical properties of the suspensions were determined by electronic absorption, excitation and emission spectroscopies and are discussed in terms of their size and chemical compositions.