Temperature dependent photoluminescence investigation of the effect of growth pause induced ripening in InAs/GaAs quantum dot heterostructures

Self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) heterostructures grown by solid state molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) were subjected to growth ripening pause of comparatively shorter durations (0–50 s) at the growth temperature (520 °C). The islands are found to increase in size with the growth pause and correspondingly their density decreases. Though the photoluminescence spectra of the islands subjected to growth pause is found to follow conventional QD systems, a contradiction is noticed in the calculated values of the activation energy of the dots. We ascribed this contradiction due to the poor crystalline quality of the ripened QDs as a result of desorption and sublimation of indium during the pause at high growth temperature.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights► Self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots were subjected to growth ripening pause. ► Samples are structurally and optically characterized. ► Factors affecting the carrier activation energy have been investigated.