Nano Express
Influence of GaAs Substrate Orientation on InAs Quantum Dots: Surface Morphology, Critical Thickness, and Optical Properties
Physics Department, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA
Nanoscale Research Letters 2007, 2:609-613 doi:10.1007/s11671-007-9103-3
Published: 6 November 2007Abstract
InAs/GaAs heterostructures have been simultaneously grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs (100), GaAs (100) with a 2° misorientation angle towards [01−1], and GaAs (n11)B (n = 9, 7, 5) substrates. While the substrate misorientation angle increased from 0° to 15.8°, a clear evolution from quantum dots to quantum well was evident by the surface morphology, the photoluminescence, and the time-resolved photoluminescence, respectively. This evolution revealed an increased critical thickness and a delayed formation of InAs quantum dots as the surface orientation departed from GaAs (100), which was explained by the thermal-equilibrium model due to the less efficient of strain relaxation on misoriented substrate surfaces.
