Epitaxial Growth of Optoelectronically Active Ga(As)Sb Quantum Dots on Al-Rich AlGaAs with GaAs Capsule Layers

Abstract

We present a study of optoelectronically active Ga(As)As quantum dots (QDs) on Al-rich AlxGa1-xAs layers with Al concentrations up to x = 90%. So far, however, it has not been possible to grow optoelectronically active Ga(As)As QDs epitaxially directly on and in between Al-rich barrier layers in the AlGaInAsSb material system. A QD morphology might appear on the growth front, but the QD-like entities will not luminesce. Here, we use photoluminescence (PL) measurements to show that thin Al-free capsule layers between Al-rich barrier layers and the QD layers can solve this problem; this way, the QDs become optoelectronically active; that is, the dots become QDs. We consider antimonide QDs, that is, Ga(As)Sb QDs, either on GaAs for comparison or on AlxGa1-xAs barriers (x >10%) with GaAs capsule layers in between. We also discuss the influence of QD coupling both due to stress/strain from neighboring QDs and quantum-mechanically on the wavelength of the photoluminescence peak. Due to their mere existence, the capsule layers alter the barriers by becoming part of them. Quantum dots applications such as QD semiconductor lasers for spectroscopy or QDs as binary storage cells will profit from this additional degree of design freedom.