Variation of the photoluminescence spectrum of InAs/GaAs heterostructures grown by ion-beam deposition

Abstract

This work reports on an experimental investigation of the influence of vertical stacking of quantum dots, the thickness of GaAs potential barriers, and their isovalent doping with bismuth on the photoluminescence properties of InAs/GaAs heterostructures. The experimental samples were grown by ion-beam deposition. We showed that using three vertically stacked layers of InAs quantum dots separated by thin GaAs barrier layers was accompanied by a red-shift of the photoluminescence peak of InAs/GaAs heterostructures. An increase in the thickness of the GaAs barrier layers was accompanied by a blue shift of the photoluminescence peak. The effect of isovalent Bi doping of the GaAs barrier layers on the structural and optical properties of the InAs/GaAs heterostructures was investigated. It was found that the Bi content up to 4.96 atom % in GaAs decreases the density of InAs quantum dots from 1.53 × 1010 to 0.93 × 1010 cm−2. In addition, the average lateral size of the InAs quantum dots increased from 14 to 20 nm, due to an increase in the surface diffusion of In. It is shown that isovalent doping of GaAs potential barriers by bismuth was accompanied by a red-shift of the photoluminescence peak of InAs quantum dots of 121 meV.