Growth of InAs quantum dots on vicinal GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

•Systematical study of InAs QD growth parameters on vicinal substrate.•Use of vicinal substrate drastically increased optical quality of QDs.•Two step growth method provides increased QD growth control.

Previous work shows the benefits of using vicinal substrates but there is currently a gap in the experimental studies of the effects under different MBE growth conditions. To fully realize controllable growth while using a vicinal substrate, we systematically explore and discuss the mechanism behind the dependence of the optical characteristics of MBE grown InAs QD ensembles with different growth parameters on a vicinal substrate. In addition, the potential improvement in optical quality with a vicinal substrate over an on-axis is demonstrated and an investigation into applying a two-step growth procedure on a vicinal substrate is conducted. Photoluminescence of the grown QD ensembles shows that increasing V/III ratio increased wavelength and decreased FWHM. Decreasing substrate temperature increased wavelength and FWHM. Utilizing the two-step growth method increased both wavelength and FWHM with increased interruption time.