This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9758, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction (if any), and Conference Committee listing.

In this paper, we discuss detailed strain effects on a bilayer InAs quantum dot with varying GaAs barrier thickness. The exploration of the range of GaAs barrier thickness effect on the InAs/GaAs quantum dots and detailed structure were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, high-resolution X-Ray diffraction (HRXRD) and Raman spectroscopy to evaluate the impact of strained layer and also studied the optical properties by photoluminescence (PL) measurements. On varying the thickness of the GaAs barrier layer, the role of strain demonstrates a promising approach to tuning the quantum dot morphologies and structures and hence, optical properties. This can be easily observed from the HRXRD rocking curves which result in a shift of the zero order peak position. Both in-out-plane strain decrease as the thickness is increased. Even the Raman scattering peaks justify the decrease of strain on increasing the GaAs barrier thickness. Therefore, higher strain propagation indicates redshift in the emission wavelength and the dots are much more uniformly spread out. Structure with a range of 5.5nm-8.5nm GaAs barrier thickness interlayer reveals even high-quality crystallinity of the epilayers with the FWHM of 21.6 arcsecs for the (004) reflection. Uncoupled structure responses low crystalline quality with FWHM of 109 arcsecs. Dislocation density increases drastically with a decrease of strain which is an important aspect of lasers and other devices in increasing their efficiency. Activation energy also shows a positive correlation with coupling structure. Therefore, controlling diffusion length may be key to reducing defects in several strained structures.

We report on high quality GaAs-on-Si layers with low threading dislocations obtained by a combination of nucleation layer and dislocation filter layers using the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth method. As a result, we achieved a Si-based electrically pumped 1.3 μm InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) laser that lases up to 111°C with a lasing threshold of 200 A/cm², and a single facet output power exceeding 100 mW at room temperature. In addition to Si-based lasers, we also demonstrated the first Si-based InAs/GaAs QD superluminescent light-emitting diode (SLD), from which a close-to-Gaussian emission with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of ~114 nm centered at ~1258 nm and maximum output power of 2.6 mW has been achieved.

Three InAs quantum dot (QD) samples with dislocation filter layers (DFLs) are grown on Si substrates with and without in-situ annealing. Comparison is made to a similar structure grown on a GaAs substrate. The three Si grown samples have different dislocation densities in their active region as revealed by structural studies. By determining the integrated emission as a function of laser power it is possible to determine the power dependence of the radiative efficiency and compare this across the four samples. The radiative efficiency increases with decreasing dislocation density; this also results in a decrease in the temperature quenching of the PL. A laser structures grown on Si and implementing the same optimum DFL and annealing procedure exhibits a greater than 3 fold reduction in threshold current as well as a two fold increase in slope efficiency in comparison to a device in which no annealing is applied.

Enhanced photoluminescence (PL) of quantum dots (QD) in visible range using plasmonic nanostructures has potential to advance several photonic applications. The enhancement effect is, however, limited by the light coupling efficiency to the nanostructures. Here we demonstrate experimentally a new open-ring nanostructure (ORN) array 100 nm engraved into a 200 nm thick silver thin film to maximize light absorption and, hence, PL enhancement at a broadband spectral range. The structure is different from the traditional isolated or through-hole split-ring structures. Theoretical calculations based on FDTD method show that the absorption peak wavelength can be adjusted by their period and dimension. A broadband absorption of about 60% was measured at the peak wavelength of 550 nm. The emission spectrum of CdSe/ZnS core-shell quantum dots was chosen to match the absorption band of the ORN array to enhance its PL. The engraved silver ORN array was fabricated on a silver thin film deposited on a silicon substrate using focus ion beam (FIB) patterning. The device was characterized by using a thin layer of QD water dispersion formed between the ORN substrate and a cover glass. The experimental results show the enhanced PL for the QD with emission spectrum overlapping the absorption band of ORN substrate and quantum efficiency increases from 50% to 70%. The ORN silver substrate with high absorption over a broadband spectrum enables the PL enhancement and will benefit applications in biosensing, wavelength tunable filters, and imaging.

Self-catalyzed GaAsP nanowires (NWs) have a band gap that is capable of covering the working wavelengths from green to infrared. However, the difficulties in controlling P and the complexities of the growth of ternary NWs make it challenging to fabricate them. In this work, self-catalyzed GaAsP NWs were successfully grown on Si substrates by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy and demonstrated almost stacking fault free zinc blend crystal structure, Growth of high-quality shell has been realized on the core NWs. In the shell, a quasi-3-fold composition symmetry has been observed for the first time. Moreover, these growth techniques have been successfully applied for growth on patterned Si substrates after some creative modifications such as high-temperature substrate cleaning and Ga pre-deposition. These results open up new perspectives for integrating III−V nanowire photovoltaics and visible light emitters on the silicon platform using self-catalyzed GaAsP core−shell nanowires.

We fabricate and characterize mono- and few- layers of MoS₂ and WSe₂ on glass and SiO₂/Si substrates. PbS quantum dots and/or Au nanoparticles are deposited on the fabricated thin metal dichalcogenide films by controlled drop casting and electron beam evaporation techniques. The reflection spectra of the fabricated structures are measured with a spatially resolved reflectometry setup. Both experimental and numerical results show that surface functionalization with metal nanoparticles can enhance atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides’ absorption and scattering capabilities, however semiconducting quantum dots do not create such effect.

Recent work has shown that plasmonic structures enhance the emitted light of nanoscale semiconductor materials, such as the photoluminescence of colloidal quantum dots (QDs) and MoS₂ 2D materials. This project will compare the photoluminescence of CdSe colloidal quantum dots and MoS₂. A variety of studies will be performed such as photobleaching effects, how photoluminescence relates to lifetime of sample, and polarization studies. In addition, this project will further the understanding of plasmonically enhanced photoluminescence between these semiconductor nanostructures and metal nanostructures. Initial studies will drop cast colloidal metal nanospheres onto quantum dots and MoS2, while future work will fabricate gold structures with electron beam lithography.

Resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) provide high speed current oscillation which is applicable to THz generation when coupled to a suitably designed antenna. For this purpose, the InGaAs/AlAs/InP materials have been used, as this system offers high electron mobility, suitable band-offsets, and low resistance contacts. However for high current density operation (~MA/cm²) the epitaxial structure is challenging to characterize using conventional techniques as it consists of a single, very thin AlAs/InGaAs quantum well (QW). Here, we present a detailed low temperature photoluminescence spectroscopic study of high current density RTDs that allow the non-destructive mapping of a range of critical parameters for the device. We show how the doping level of the emitter/collector and contact layers in the RTD structure can be measured using the Moss-Burstein effect. For the full device structure, we show how emission from the QW may be identified, and detail how the emission changes with differing indium composition and well widths. We show that by studying nominally identical, un-doped structures, a type-II QW emission is observed, and explain the origin of the type-I emission in doped devices. This observation opens the way for a new characterization scheme where a “dummy” RTD active element is incorporated below the real RTD structure. This structure allows significantly greater control in the epitaxial process.

We studied the microcrystalline and nanocrystalline silicon thin films by means of Raman spectroscopy technique. The applied external electric field causes the changes in the electric dipoles’ orientations to compensate the external field, and migration the atom of impurities, such as hydrogen, and point defects. The Si-O dipoles play the most significant role because of electron affinity for oxygen. Phonon eigen-frequencies 480 cm^-1 for amorphous silicon Raman spectra around and 520 cm^-1 for crystalline TO and LO modes are varied in their energy positions because of wide spread in bonding variation for Si and O atoms, types of dipoles for different point defects and isotopic variations. It is assumed that the nanocrystals which have grain boundary with oxygen atoms incorporated into silicon were destroyed in their crystal structure by Si-O dipoles reorientations caused by applied field. The initial crystal orientation was (111). The incorporated oxygen atoms are adsorbed in determined places. Their position results the appearance of numerous dangling bonds which are multiplied by the electric field and create the deep cracks in crystals. The crystal order is damaged along the axis that is perpendicular to (111). It is supposed that the microcrystal is a fractal structure on 2D plane.

This research has been performed to improve upon optical qualities exhibited by metallic-semiconductor nanostructures in terms of their ability to excite electrons and generate current through the fabricated device. Plasmonic interactions become very influential at this scale, and can play an important role in the generation of photocurrent throughout the semiconductor. When the device is fabricated to promote the coupling of these radiated electromagnetic fields, a very substantial optical enhancement becomes evident. A GaAs substrate with an array of Au nanowires attached to the surface is studied to determine structural qualities that promote this enhancement. Using computational electromagnetic modeling and analysis, the effect of the Ti adhesion layer and various structural qualities are analyzed to promote photocurrent generation. Emphasis is placed on the amount of enhancement occurring in the semiconductor layer of the model. The photocurrent is then calculated mathematically and generalized for optimization of the device.

This paper presents a prima facie study of the magneto-optic response of antiferromagnetic α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles coated on a quartz substrate investigated by MOKE. The concentrations of the iron oxide nanoparticles in the films were varied from 8.6% to 21.5% and showed a linear increase in film thicknesses. As the concentration of the iron oxide nanoparticles were increased, the samples changed from a net-like morphology to a crystalline morphology. Magnetization reversals in the lower concentration samples were asymmetric with the reversals for the ascending and descending branch of the hysteresis loop occurring on the same side. The asymmetry in the magnetization reversal was attributed to the angle between the antiferromagnetic easy axis and the external magnetic field. With increase in concentration, an improvement in the magneto-optic response was observed with the magnetization reversal occurring via coherent rotation for both ascending and descending branches of the hysteresis loop. The changes in the magneto-optic behavior for the samples with higher concentrations is attributed to the strong exchange interactions and changes in the shape of the nanoparticles. Sensitivity studies performed on the samples showed an increased magneto-optic sensitivity to changes in magnetic field for samples of higher concentration. The high sensitivity of these samples could be exploited in magneto-optic sensors. Nanoparticles on a quartz substrate could find applications in bio-medicine due to their bio-compatibility.

In this paper, we have reported the optical and electrical properties of strain coupled multi-stack quantum dot infrared photodetectors (QDIPs) of In_0.5Ga_0.5As dots with different capping compositions. Bilayer, trilayer, pentalayer and heptalayer coupled QDIPs are grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy with one set of samples containing conventional GaAs capping (12nm) and second set containing a combinational capping of In_0.15Ga_0.85As (3nm) and GaAs (9nm) layers with same total thickness. The entire set of strain coupled quantum dots (QDs) shows a red shift in ground state photoluminescence peak in comparison to the uncoupled structures. Due to the reduction in indium interdiffusion from In_0.5Ga_0.5As dots in the combinational capped structures, a higher redshift is observed compared to the GaAs capped structures, which attributes larger dot size in the former ones. Full width half maximum value (FWHM) of In_0.15Ga_0.85As/GaAs capped QDs are lower, showing uniform distribution of dot size compared to the corresponding GaAs capped QDs. Trilayer sample with In_0.15Ga_0.85As/GaAs capping shows the best result in terms of the peak emission wavelength of 1177nm, FWHM of 15.67nm and activation energy of 339meV compared to all the structures. Trilayer sample seems to be the optimum stacking having the best confinement resulting lower dark current density of 6.5E-8 A/cm2 measured at 100K. The sample also shows a multicolor response at ~4.89μm and at ~7.08μm in the mid infrared range. Further optimization of the spacer thickness and dot layer deposition can improve the response towards the long infrared range.

We studied time-dependent fluctuations of photoluminescence (PL) spectra of single CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals (NCs), which show PL blinking and spectral diffusion. We observed correlations between PL peak energy, intensity, and linewidth, which are due to the quantum confined Stark effect. We found that a characteristic asymmetric shape appears in the PL peak energy histogram, which can be explained by a simple field-fluctuation model. By comparing the experimental results with theoretical calculations, we evaluate the mean value and standard deviation of the fluctuating electric field. We discuss the experimental data using a model considering a few elementary charges around the NCs, which are the origin of the field fluctuation.

In multi-stack structures, the strain field existing in the seed layer induces the nucleation of subsequent dots on the preexisting dots, and as the InAs quantum dot (QD) coverage is fixed we eventually get a dissimilar overgrowth percentage between subsequent layers. Therefore, such structures are prompt to defects and dislocations and also produce a multimodal distribution of dots. In this paper, a detailed investigation has been done on the growth strategy of strain-coupled multi-stack InAs/GaAs heterostructures, to achieve mono-modal distribution of InAs QDs. The heterostructures discussed in this paper are grown with fixed seed layer coverage of 2.5 monolayer (ML) InAs in order to maintain the constant overgrowth percentage between the subsequent QD layers. The subsequent QD layer coverage has been varied from 2.5ML to 2.1ML and the GaAs spacer thickness in between them varied from 10nm to 12nm. Power dependent photoluminescence (PL) spectra at 18K revealed the transition from multimodal to monomodal as the growth parameters varied. We have also optimized the spacer thickness between the seed layer and immediate dot layer to 6.5nm, by keeping other parameters constant. It results in a red shift in PL emission peak and lowers the full width half maximum by 12nm, which seems to be improving in dot size and homogeneity. The highest activation energy has been obtained from the optimized structure, which attributes to a better QD confinement and hence lowers dark current value. An enhancement in the optical properties may happen with further optimization.

The thermal stability of InAs/GaAs bilayer quantum dots structure has been investigated by photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The fabricated structure on thermal annealing PL shows no shift in peaks upto 650°C indicating a robustness till a certain temperature making it a suitable candidate for vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) and feedback lasers where ideally a fixed wavelength is required. Integrated Photoluminescence gave a high activation energy in the range of 200 meV for the ground state PL peak for all the coupled structures. Above 650°C there is a blue-shift in the PL peak. And at a very high temperature the dots start to diffuse into InAs wetting layer hence decreasing the quality of the crystal. The stability in the PL for temperatures below 650°C can be accounted by strain energy as it works against the interdiffusion of QD and the seed layer till a certain temperature hence it compensates for the temperature effect but after 650°C diffusion term becomes too strong and we observe a blue-shift in the peak. This can be justified theoretically by modifications in the Arrhenius diffusion equation. Due to this interdiffusion of In/Ga atom the dominance of the peak and the intensity of PL peak also changes as the QD composition changes [1-2]. Coupling the dots also leads to high activation energy which in-turn generates a stronger carrier confinement. But as the temperature increases, activation energy decreases weakening the carrier confinement potential because of interdiffusion between dot and seed layer.