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No abstract

Jo, M.; Mano, T.; Noda, T.; Sakoda, K.; Koenraad, P.M.

Using a thin capping layer to engineer the structural and optical properties of InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) has become common practice in the last decade. Traditionally, the main parameter considered has been the strain in the QD/capping layer system. With the advent of more exotic alloys, it has become clear that other mechanisms significantly alter the QD size and shape as well. Larger bond strengths, surfactants, and phase separation are known to act on QD properties but are far from being fully understood. In this study, we investigate at the atomic scale the influence of these effects on the morphology of capped QDs with cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy. A broad range of capping materials (InGaAs, GaAsSb, GaAsN, InGaAsN, and GaAsSbN) are compared. The QD morphology is related to photoluminescence characteristics.

The growth of self-assembled quantum dots has been intensively studied in the last decade. Despite substantial efforts, a number of details of the growth process remain unknown. The reason is the inability of current characterization techniques to image the growth process in real time. In the current work this limitation is alleviated by the use of kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations in conjunction with cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy. The two techniques are used to study the method of strain engineering as a procedure to control the height of quantum dots. We show for the first time that fully three-dimensional kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations can be matched with the experimentally obtained morphology of buried quantum dots and that combination of the two techniques provides details of the growth process that hitherto could not be obtained.