AFM, HR-XRD and PL characterization of stacked structures In 0.5Ga0.5As/GaAs quantum dots

Abstract

In0.5Ga0.5As quantum dots (QDs) stacked structure were studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM), high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) and photoluminescence (PL) characterization. Evolution in the dots size and dots density in the stacked structures is strongly influenced by the dot formation in the under-layer and the structure of the spacer layers. AFM results revealed that the dots formation on the top can be changed by increasing the number of stacked QDs. However, the dots formation is not vertically aligned since HR-XRD measurement gave different satellite peak on n-stacked QD structures. Room-temperature PL measurements show variation in the PL spectra, where blue-shifted PL peak positions are observed when the number of stack is increased. Variation in the HR-XRD and PL measurement is also attributed to the size, composition and density of the dots in the stacked structures. © 2010 World Scientific Publishing Company.