scholarly journals Strain Distributions in Group IV and III-V Semiconductor Quantum Dots

Author(s):  
K.A.I.L. Wijewardena Gamalath ◽  
M.A.I.P. Fernando

A theoretical model was developed using Green’s function with an anisotropic elastic tensor to study the strain distribution in and around three dimensional semiconductor pyramidal quantum dots formed from group IV and III-V material systems namely, Ge on Si, InAs on GaAs and InP on AlP. A larger positive strain in normal direction which tends to zero beyond 6nm was observed for all three types while the strains parallel to the substrate were negative. For all the three types of quantum dots hydrostatic strain and biaxial strain along x and z directions were not linear but described a curve with a maximum positive value near the base of the quantum dot. The hydrostatic strain in x-direction is mostly confined within the quantum dot and practically goes to zero outside the edges of the quantum dot. For all the three types, the maximum hydrostatic and biaxial strains occur in x-direction around -1nm and around 2nm in z-direction. The negative strain in x-direction although realtively weak penetrate more deeper to the substrate than hydrostatic strain.The group IV substrate gave larger hydrostatic and biaxial strains than the group III-V semiconductor combinations and InAs /GaAs was the most stable. The results indicated that the movements of atoms due to the lattice mismatch were strong for group III-V.

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manu Mitra

Abstract: Quantum dots have interesting optical properties. They absorb incoming light of one color and emit out light of a completely different color. This research paper discloses eigen states of a simple and multilayer quantum dot in various structures for cuboid, cylinder, dome, cone, and pyramid, and its three-dimensional wave function, energy states, light and dark transitions (X-polarized), light and dark transitions (Y-polarized), light and dark transitions (Zpolarized), light and dark transitions (phi = 0 and theta= 45), absorption (phi = 0 and theta = 45), absorption sweep of angle theta, and integrated absorption are plotted and the observations of high peak values are noted and documented.


Author(s):  
Yumin Liu ◽  
Zhongyuan Yu

Based on the three-dimensional finite element approach, we investigate the strain field distribution of the GaN/AlN self-organized quantum dot. The truncated hexagonal pyramid quantum dot that has been found in experiment is adopted as the physical model in our simulation. The material elastic constants parameters used in this paper are of wurtzite structure, and there are five independent elastic constants. In dealing with the lattice mismatch, we employ a three-dimensional anisotropic pseudo-thermal expansion. We compare the calculated results with that calculated by Green’s function theory, in which many assumptions are made, and prove the correctness of our results. The strain distributions of the equal strain surface three-dimensional contour plots of the six strain components are given. Finally, the anisotropic characteristics of the GaN/AlN quantum dot material are discussed, the results demonstrate that the position of the elastic strain energy density minimum position is just located above the buried quantum dot and have no influence on the thickness of the capping layer. So the anisotropy has no obvious influence on the vertical alignment of post-growth of the next layer of quantum dots. Our model does not adopt the assumptions used in the Green’s function approach, so better reliability and precision of results are expected.


2001 ◽  
Vol 677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga L. Lazarenkova ◽  
Alexander A. Balandin

ABSTRACTWe analyze the electron energy spectrum in three-dimensional regimented arrays of semiconductor quantum dots. The coupling among quantum dots results in formation of three- dimensional electron mini-bands. Changing the size of quantum dots, inter-dot distance, barrier height and regimentation, one can control the electronic band structure of this quantum dot superlattice, which can also be referred to as quantum dot crystal due to its structure and energy spectrum that resemble those of a real crystal. Results of computer simulations carried out for a tetragonal InAs/GaAs quantum dot superlattice show that the electron density of states, effective mass tensor and other properties are different from those of bulk and conventional quantum well superlattices.


2014 ◽  
Vol 895 ◽  
pp. 415-419
Author(s):  
Chin Y. Woon ◽  
Geri Gopir ◽  
Ahmad Puaad Othman

Recently, theoretical analysis of the electronic properties of quantum dot has attracted a great attention when modern nanotechnology has made it possible to fabricate a realistic quantum dots in laboratory [. Quantum dot structures which provide electron confinement in three dimensions can be grown by the so called self-assembly effect or Stranski-Krastanov growth mode. Particular interest attracts ordering effects in StranskiKrastanow growth which proceeds on a lattice-mismatched substrate via formation of essentially three-dimensional islands. This is especially true for the InAs-GaAs system where the lattice mismatch is high and the nucleation process is rapid. Although, quantum dots have being studied experimentally but large amount of numerical studies of electron confined states also have been developed to simulate electronic and optical properties in quantum dots. The single band effective mass is one of the formalism of envelope function which has been widely used to solve quantum dot systems. However, the effective massm*is usually position dependent in semiconductor heterostrutures. Consequently, the concerning about the form of the boundary conditions to impose on different material interface arisen [3]. According to the present works [2, , the position dependent Hamiltonian is given by: . wherem=m(r) is the position dependent effective mass of an electron in conduction band. The constant α, β, and γ is arbitrary set to satisfy α + β + γ = -1. Various approximations regarding the actual constant of α, β, and γ in position dependent effective mass have been observed, example Gora & William (by putting α = -1 and β = γ = 0), Zhu & Kroemer (α = γ = -1/2 and β = 0), and BenDaniel-Duke (α = γ = 0 and β = -1). Among them, β = 1 (known as the Ben DanielDuke Hamiltonian [) is most popular method for solving mass continuity problem on the classic Hamiltonian [. Extensively, these interface condition was been used to solved most of the heterostructure problem such as quantum dots [. However, there is a qualitative argument based upon the Ben DanielDuke choice violates the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and the issue of the correct effective-mass equation was further questioned by Pistol, M. E. which he claims that all the possible equations lead to the same interfacial conditions on the envelope function [. In this paper, we will investigate the effect of discontinuity mass within interface of two semiconductor materials inside InAs-GaAs quantum dot by using the classic constant mass Hamiltonian (CH), position dependent effective mass Hamiltonian (PDH) and Ben Daniel and Duke Hamiltonian (BDH). The most common analytic methods are solving the transcendental equation obtained by matching the interface boundary condition on the envelope function. But this kind of method will suffer from complexity of model quantum dots that contain multiple layer or geometry that unable to derive into analytic formulation. Thus, this study will focus on comparison between difference finite difference formalism to illustrate the mass discontinuity effect on the numerical solution.


2006 ◽  
Vol 924 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Feltrin ◽  
Alexandre Freundlich

ABSTRACTThe strain distributions and of reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) patterns of uncapped pyramidal shape InAs Stranski-Krastanov quantum dots fabricated on GaAs(001) substrate are investigated theoretically. The three dimensional strain anisotropy is computed with an atomistic elasticity approach, using inter-atomic Keating potentials and the strain energy is minimized using the conjugate gradient numerical method. RHEED images are predicted in the framework of the kinematical theory, by taking into account the refraction of the electron beam at the quantum dot/vacuum interface. Clear correlation between RHEED image features and quantum dot structural properties is established. The study stresses the potential of RHEED for future experimental real-time (during growth) detections and deciphering of strain anisotropies in quantum dots.


Author(s):  
M. K. Kuo ◽  
T. R. Lin ◽  
K. B. Hong

Size effects on optical properties of self-assembled quantum dots are analyzed based on the theories of linear elasticity and of strain-dependent k-p with the aid of finite element analysis. The quantum dot is made of InGaAs with truncated pyramidal shape on GaAs substrate. The three-dimensional steady-state effective-mass Schro¨dinger equation is adopted to find confined energy levels as well as wave functions both for electrons and holes of the quantum-dot nanostructures. Strain-induced as well as piezoelectric effects are taken into account in the carrier confinement potential of Schro¨dinger equation. The optical transition energies of quantum dots, computed from confined energy levels for electrons and holes, are significantly different for several quantum dots with distinct sizes. It is found that for QDs with the the larger the volume of QD is, the smaller the values of the optical transition energy. Piezoelectric effect, on the other hand, splits the p-like degeneracy for the electron first excited state about 1~7 meV, and leads to anisotropy on the wave function.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 584-590
Author(s):  
I.V. Bilynskyi ◽  
R.Ya. Leshko ◽  
H.O. Bandura

The band spectrum of quantum dots superlattices of different shapes at points of high symmetry is determined. Cubic, cylindrical and spherical quantum dots are considered. The width of the minizone is calculated. The dependences of the minizones on the geometric dimensions of quantum dots and their concentration are established.


2010 ◽  
Vol 1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Numa Gillet

AbstractDesign of semiconducting nanomaterials with an indirect electronic bandgap is currently one of the major areas of research to obtain a high thermoelectric yield by lowering their lattice thermal conductivity. Intensive investigations on superlattices were performed to achieve this goal. However, like one-dimensional nanowires, they decrease heat transport in only one propagation direction of the phonons. Moreover, they often lead to dislocations since they are composed of layered materials with a lattice mismatch. Design of superlattices with a thermoelectric figure of merit ZT higher than unity is therefore hazardous. Self-assembly of epitaxial layers on silicon has been used for bottom-up synthesis of three-dimensional (3D) Ge quantum-dot (QD) arrays in Si for quantum-device and solar-energy applications. Using the atomic-scale 3D phononic crystal model, it is predicted that high-density 3D arrays of self-assembled Ge QDs in Si can as well show an extreme reduction of the thermal transport. 3D supercrystals of Ge QDs in Si present a thermal conductivity that can be as tiny as that of air. These extremely low values of the thermal conductivity are computed for a number of Ge filling ratios and size parameters of the 3D Si-Ge supercrystal. Owing to incoherent phonon scattering with predominant near-field effects, the same conclusion holds for supercrystals with moderate QD disordering. As a result, design of highly-efficient CMOS-compatible thermoelectric devices with ZT possibly much higher than unity might be possible. In this theoretical study, simultaneous evolution of both temperature and average distance between the Ge QDs is analyzed for a non-variable Ge filling ratio to obtain thermal-conductivity values as low as that of air (+/- 0.025 W/m/K).


2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 065602 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Buljan ◽  
N Radić ◽  
J Sancho-Paramon ◽  
V Janicki ◽  
J Grenzer ◽  
...  

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