Uniform-Sized Indium Quantum Dots Grown on the Surface of an InGaN Epitaxial Layer by a Two-Step Cooling Process

Shuangtao Liu; Jing Yang; Degang Zhao; Desheng Jiang; Jianjun Zhu; Feng Liang; Ping Chen; Zongshun Liu; Yao Xing; Liyuan Peng; Liqun Zhang

doi:10.1186/s11671-019-3095-7

Uniform-Sized Indium Quantum Dots Grown on the Surface of an InGaN Epitaxial Layer by a Two-Step Cooling Process

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2019 Aug 16;14(1):280. doi: 10.1186/s11671-019-3095-7.

Authors

Shuangtao Liu^{1

2}, Jing Yang^{3

4}, Degang Zhao^{5

6}, Desheng Jiang¹, Jianjun Zhu^{1

2}, Feng Liang¹, Ping Chen¹, Zongshun Liu¹, Yao Xing¹, Liyuan Peng¹, Liqun Zhang⁷

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China.
² Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China. yangjing333@semi.ac.cn.
⁴ Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. yangjing333@semi.ac.cn.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China. dgzhao@red.semi.ac.cn.
⁶ Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. dgzhao@red.semi.ac.cn.
⁷ Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123, China.

Abstract

A new method to grow Indium quantum dots (In QDs) on the surface of an epitaxial InGaN layer by MOCVD is proposed. Uniform-sized In quantum dots have been found to form on the surface of an InGaN layer when a two-step cooling process is taken. Through analyzing, we found that the formation of In QDs on the surface is due to the reaction between the surface In-rich layer and the carrier gas H₂ at the lower temperature period in the two-step cooling process. At the same time, as the density of In QDs is closely dependent on the surface In-rich layer, this provides us a way to study the surface property of the InGaN layer directly.

Keywords: In quantum dots; In-rich layer; Single InGaN layer.