Optical properties of wurtzite GaN/AlN quantum dots grown on non-polar planes: The effect of stacking faults in the reduction of the internal electric field

The optical emission of non-polar GaN/AlN quantum dots has been investigated. The presence of stacking faults inside these quantum dots is evidenced in the dependence of the photoluminescence with temperature and excitation power. A theoretical model for the electronic structure and optical properties of non-polar quantum dots, taking into account their realistic shapes, is presented which predicts a substantial reduction of the internal electric field but a persisting quantum confined Stark effect, comparable to that of polar GaN/AlN quantum dots. Modeling the effect of a 3 monolayer stacking fault inside the quantum dot, which acts as zinc-blende inclusion into the wurtzite matrix, results in an additional 30% reduction of the internal electric field and gives a better account of the observed optical features.     

Exciton spectroscopy on single CdSe/ZnSe quantum dot photodiodes

We have investigated the properties of neutral and charged excitons in single CdSe/ZnSe QD photodiodes by μ-photoluminescence spectroscopy. By applying a bias voltage, we have been able to control the number of electrons in a single QD by shifting the energy levels of the QD with respect to the Fermi level in the back contact. Also the quantum-confined Stark effect was observed as a function of the applied electric field.     

Electronic structure and optical transitions in Sn and SnGe quantum dots in a Si matrix

Self-assembled quantum dots in the Si-Ge-Sn system have attracted research attention as possible direct band gap materials, compatible with Si-based technology, with potential applications in optoelectronics. In this work, the electronic structure near the Γ-point and the interband optical matrix elements of strained Sn and SnGe quantum dots in a Si matrix are calculated using the eight-band k.p method, and the competing L-valley conduction band states were found by the effective mass method. The strain distribution in the dots was found within the continuum mechanical model. The bulk band-structure parameters, required for the k.p or effective mass calculation for Sn were extracted by fitting to the energy band structure calculated by the non-local empirical pseudopotential method (EPM). The calculations show that the self-assembled Sn/Si dots, with sizes between 4 and 12 nm, have indirect interband transition energies (from the size-quantized valence band states at Γ to the conduction band states at L) between 0.8 and 0.4 eV, and direct interband transitions between 2.5 and 2.0 eV, which agrees very well with experimental results. Similar good agreement with experiment was also found for the recently grown SnGe dots on Si substrate, covered by SiO₂. However, neither of these is predicted to be direct band gap materials, in contrast to some earlier expectations.     

Photoluminescence of InAs quantum dots coupled to a two-dimensional electron gas

Self-assembled InAs quantum dots have been extensively studied by a variety of experimental techniques. Works have been done on the transport properties of the InAs dots located near a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). However, there have been few reports on the optical properties of the InAs dots located closely to 2DEG. In this work, InAs dots samples with 2DEG and without 2DEG growth by solid source molecular beam epitaxy were studied using photoluminescence measurements. Different photoluminescence behaviors between the InAs dots and the InAs dots near the 2DEG were observed. It was found that the emission efficiency of the InAs dots was significantly enhanced by the existence of the nearby 2DEG and the thermal activation energy of the InAs dots was decreased by the 2DEG. It was speculated that the 2DEG at the AlGaAs/GaAs interface worked as an electron reservoir to the InAs dots. As a result, the conduction band between the dots and 2DEG is lowered, and thus the thermal activation energy of PL is lowered. It was concluded that in this way the optical properties of the InAs quantum dots could be tailored for optical applications.     

耦合GaN/AlxGa1-xN量子点中的激子特性

在有效质量近似下，运用变分方法，考虑到量子点内电子和空穴的三维束缚以及由压电极化和自发极化所引起的内建电场，对圆柱型耦合GaN量子点的光学性质及激子态做了研究。给出了激子结合能Eb、量子点发光波长λ、电子-空穴复合率和量子点高度L^GaN以及势垒层厚度L^AlGaN之间的函数关系。结果表明，量子点高度LG^GaN、势垒层厚度L^AlGaN的增加将导致激子结合能、电子-空穴复合率的降低，耦合量子点发光波长的增加。     

Photoluminescence and photoreflectance study of Si/Si0.91Ge0.09 andSi9/Ge6 quantum dots

Nanometer-scale quantum dots based on a series of Si/Si_0.91Ge_0.09 strained layer superlattices and a Si₉/Ge₆ strain-symmetrized superlattice were fabricated using electron beam lithography and reactive ion etching. They were investigated by photoluminescence and photoreflectance. It was found for the first time that the quantum efficiency of optical emission from the quantum well layers increased by over two orders of magnitude when the quantum dot sizes were reduced to ≤100 nm.     

Electrical transport in n-type ZnMgSSe grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs

Significant progress in improving the performance of blue-green II-VI semiconductor injection lasers has come about from advances in the epitaxial growth and doping of ZnMgSSe on GaAs substrates. This paper investigates electrical transport and its relation to structural quality in n-type Zn_1-yMg_y S_xSe_1-x epilayers doped with Cl, grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The composition parameters x and y vary from about 0.12-0.18 and 0.08-0.15, respectively. The quaternary epilayers studied are lattice-matched (or nearly so) to the GaAs substrate. Temperature-dependent Hall-effect measurements are performed on seven n-type ZnMgSSe:Cl epilayers, and a technique is presented whereby the resulting mobility-vs-temperature data is compared with data for ZnSe to obtain a structural figure of merit that is useful in characterizing the quaternary epilayer.     

InP胶体量子点的合成及光谱性质

以三辛基氧化膦(TOPO)作为溶剂,利用无水InCl3和P(Si(CH3)3)3之间的脱卤硅烷基反应合成了InP胶体量子点.其中,TOPO既作为反应溶剂又作为量子点的包覆剂和稳定剂,在反应后期加入十二胺作为表面活性剂.利用粉末X射线衍射仪及透射电子显微镜测量了量子点的结晶性、晶格结构、晶粒尺寸、表面形貌以及晶粒尺寸分布,利用光致发光(PL)光谱仪和紫外可见分光光度计分析了其光学性质.测试结果显示,量子点具有较好的结晶性及一定的尺寸分布,平均直径为2.5nm,标准偏差为7.4%,表现出明显的量子限制效应.     

InP胶体量子点的合成及光谱性质

以三辛基氧化膦(TOPO)作为溶剂,利用无水InCl3和P(Si(CH3)3)3之间的脱卤硅烷基反应合成了InP胶体量子点.其中,TOPO既作为反应溶剂又作为量子点的包覆剂和稳定剂,在反应后期加入十二胺作为表面活性剂.利用粉末X射线衍射仪及透射电子显微镜测量了量子点的结晶性、晶格结构、晶粒尺寸、表面形貌以及晶粒尺寸分布,利用光致发光(PL)光谱仪和紫外可见分光光度计分析了其光学性质.测试结果显示,量子点具有较好的结晶性及一定的尺寸分布,平均直径为2.5nm,标准偏差为7.4%,表现出明显的量子限制效应.     

Charge storage and memory effect in graphene quantum dots – PEG600 hybrid nanocomposite

We report an easy, one step, low cost method to obtain a hybrid composite material consisting in graphene quantum dots (GQDs) embedded in a polymeric – poly(ethylene glycol) bis (carboxymethyl) ether – matrix. Optical measurements show the excitation wavelength dependent photoluminescence of the GQDs – PEG₆₀₀. In comparison with self-passivated GQDs, the composite exhibits a blue shifted photoluminescence, as well as additional emission peaks in the range of 570–600 nm. These features are explained by the presence of new electronic surface states induced by the polymeric matrix as it was demonstrated by the electrochemical measurements. The transport properties consist in a large clockwise hysteresis presenting high and low resistance states, also two distinctive regions of negative differential resistance. The photocurrent decay and the transient currents indicate a large charge storage and confirm the existence of trap charge levels. The experimental findings suggest that the leading mechanism underling the transport is Simmons Verderber. We demonstrated the switching properties of GQDs – PEG₆₀₀ for applications in non-volatile memory by performing standard sequence memory tests.     

低阈值量子结构激光器的优化结构设计

针对低阈值半导体量子结构激光器（简称量子结构激光器）,包括量子阱、量子线和量子点结构,给出了一个完整简便的方法用以优化设计最低阈值条件所需要的有源区结构。以对数形式给出了量子结构激光器材料增益和注入载流子浓度的关系,并且以ＩｎＧａＡｓ（Ｐ）／ＩｎＰ量子阱激光器和ＩｎＡｓ／ＧａＡｓ自组装量子点结构激光器为例,分别计算了为得到最低阈值电流所需要的量子阱阱数和自组装量子点的面密度以及激光器的腔长。     

Facile synthesis of high-quality ZnS,CdS, CdZnS,and CdZnS/ZnS core/shell quantum dots: characterization and diffusion mechanism

Binary CdS and ZnS and ternary CdZnS alloy quantum dots (QDs) were synthesized via a simple, inexpensive, and reproducible route using sulfur, cadmium stearate, and zinc stearate as precursors and N-oleoylmorpholine as the reaction medium and solvent. Both binary and ternary QDs exhibited a narrow size distribution and high crystallinity as confirmed TEM and HRTEM images. The alloy QDs exhibited excellent composition-dependent optical properties and a narrow full-width at half maximum of 19–21 nm. UV-visible absorbance and photoluminescence (PL) emission spectra of the CdZnS QDs showed a blue shift during growth, indicating the formation of alloy QDs. ZnS shells were successively coated onto the alloy core via decomposition of zinc diethyldithiocarbamate at a relatively low temperature. The CdZnS/ZnS core/shell QDs obtained showed a significant increase in size and exhibited strong band edge emission with a significant increase in PL quantum yield. XRD patterns revealed that all the QDs had a zinc blende structure. The QD diffraction peaks gradually shifted to higher angle in the order CdS < CdZnS < CdZnS/ZnS < ZnS. The mechanism for the synthesis of CdZnS alloy and CdZnS/ZnS core/shell QDs is discussed.     

Electronic coupling and structural ordering of quantum dots using InAs quantum dot columns

In this article, recent investigations of vertically aligned quantum dot columns conducted at Stanford University are reviewed. The quantum dots are InAs in a matrix of GaAs. Both the quantum dots and quantum dot columns are formed through strain-induced islanding, without lithography. Two aspects of these columns are discussed. First, the electronic coupling of quantum dots within columns of up to ten quantum dots is demonstrated. The coupling is adjusted and improvements to a simple light-emitting diode are shown. Second, increased uniformity of a surface quantum dot layer is shown when a subsurface layer of these columns are used. The most impressive results occur when the columns contain a large number of islands. Reduced variations in average ensemble height and diameter, called size uniformity, and average nearest neighbor distances, called structural uniformity, are shown. A surface unit cell of islands is demonstrated and the lack of a surface lattice is discussed.     

The role of stacking faults and their associated 0.13 ev acceptor state in doped and undoped ZnO layers and nanostructures

An emission band at 3.31 eV is frequently observed in low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements on ZnO p-doped with group-V elements, and also on nominally undoped ZnO layers and nanostructures. It has alternatively been ascribed to LO- or TO-phonon replicas of free excitons, to acceptor-bound excitons, to donor-acceptor pair transitions, to two-electron satellites of donor-bound excitons, or to free-to-bound transitions. This band frequently dominates the PL of ZnO nanostructures and layers at room temperature. Annealing leads to drastic changes in its intensity.We report on low-temperature cathodoluminescence measurements with very high spatial resolution and high-resolution transmission electron microscope investigations carried out on the same pieces of hetero-epitaxial ZnO samples with unusual layer orientation. These data allow us to correlate this emission unambiguously with c-plane stacking faults. The emission is found to be due to the recombination of a free electron with a hole bound to a relatively shallow acceptor state ≈130 meV above the valence band edge. Locally, these acceptor states occur in high concentrations of up to some 10¹⁸ cm⁻³, and thus lead to strong two-dimensional perturbations of the free carrier concentration. They have severe implications for the conductivity of layers and nanostructures in general, and on the interpretation of Hall and luminescence data in particular. Literature data are critically reviewed in the light of these findings.     

方形半导体量子线中光吸收的横向斯塔克效应

The ground and few excited states of the electrons confined in a square GaAs quantum wire(QW) subjected to an external transverse electric field are investigated using the finite difference method within the effective-mass approximation. When the transverse electric field is applied along a side of the square quantum wire, the calculation of the eigenstates of the quantum wire has an exactly solvable problem whose solutions involve the linear combinations of two independent Airy functions. Compared with the exact analytical results using Airy functions, the results obtained by the use of the finite difference method in terms of the eigenstates of the particle in the QW are in excellent agreement. Subsequently, it is considered that the eigenstates of the particle depend on the orientations of the electric field with respect to the center axis of the QW. It is interesting that the peak value of the energy is found for the field directed along the diagonal in the QW, which can lead to a large energy shift. Meanwhile, dependence of the optical absorption phenomenon in the square QW on the optical field and applied electric field is investigated. It is shown that the optical absorption spectrum depends highly upon the polarization of the optical field and the applied electric field intensities and orientations.