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    Towards deterministically controlled InGaAs/GaAs lateral quantum dot molecules
    (College Park, MD : Institute of Physics Publishing, 2008) Wang, L.; Rastelli, A.; Kiravittaya, S.; Atkinson, P.; Ding, F.; Bof Bufon, C.C.; Hermannstädter, C.; Witzany, M.; Beirne, G.J.; Michler, P.; Schmidt, O.G.
    We report on the fabrication, detailed characterization and modeling of lateral InGaAs quantum dot molecules (QDMs) embedded in a GaAs matrix and we discuss strategies to fully control their spatial configuration and electronic properties. The three-dimensional morphology of encapsulated QDMs was revealed by selective wet chemical etching of the GaAs top capping layer and subsequent imaging by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The AFM investigation showed that different overgrowth procedures have a profound consequence on the QDM height and shape. QDMs partially capped and annealed in situ for micro- photoluminescence spectroscopy consist of shallow but well-defined quantum dots (QDs) in contrast to misleading results usually provided by surface morphology measurements when they are buried by a thin GaAs layer. This uncapping approach is crucial for determining the QDM structural parameters, which are required for modeling the system. A single-band effective-mass approximation is employed to calculate the confined electron and heavy-hole energy levels, taking the geometry and structural information extracted from the uncapping experiments as inputs. The calculated transition energy of the single QDM shows good agreement with the experimentally observed values. By decreasing the edge-to-edge distance between the two QDs within a QDM, a splitting of the electron (hole) wavefunction into symmetric and antisymmetric states is observed, indicating the presence of lateral coupling. Site control of such lateral QDMs obtained by growth on a pre-patterned substrate, combined with a technology to fabricate gate structures at well-defined positions with respect to the QDMs, could lead to deterministically controlled devices based on QDMs. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.
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    Temperature-dependent Raman investigation of rolled up InGaAs/GaAs microtubes
    (New York, NY [u.a.] : Springer, 2012) Rodriguez, R.D.; Sheremet, E.; Thurmer, D.J.; Lehmann, D.; Gordan, O.D.; Seidel, F.; Milekhin, A.; Schmidt, O.G.; Hietschold, M.; Zahn, D.R.T.
    Large arrays of multifunctional rolled-up semiconductors can be mass-produced with precisely controlled size and composition, making them of great technological interest for micro- and nano-scale device fabrication. The microtube behavior at different temperatures is a key factor towards further engineering their functionality, as well as for characterizing strain, defects, and temperature-dependent properties of the structures. For this purpose, we probe optical phonons of GaAs/InGaAs rolled-up microtubes using Raman spectroscopy on defect-rich (faulty) and defect-free microtubes. The microtubes are fabricated by selectively etching an AlAs sacrificial layer in order to release the strained InGaAs/GaAs bilayer, all grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Pristine microtubes show homogeneity of the GaAs and InGaAs peak positions and intensities along the tube, which indicates a defect-free rolling up process, while for a cone-like microtube, a downward shift of the GaAs LO phonon peak along the cone is observed. Formation of other type of defects, including partially unfolded microtubes, can also be related to a high Raman intensity of the TO phonon in GaAs. We argue that the appearance of the TO phonon mode is a consequence of further relaxation of the selection rules due to the defects on the tubes, which makes this phonon useful for failure detection/prediction in such rolled up systems. In order to systematically characterize the temperature stability of the rolled up microtubes, Raman spectra were acquired as a function of sample temperature up to 300°C. The reversibility of the changes in the Raman spectra of the tubes within this temperature range is demonstrated.
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    Nanoscale spectroscopic imaging of GaAs-AlGaAs quantum well tube nanowires: Correlating luminescence with nanowire size and inner multishell structure
    (Berlin : De Gruyter, 2019) Prete, P.; Wolf, D.; Marzo, F.; Lovergine, N.
    The luminescence and inner structure of GaAs-AlGaAs quantum well tube (QWT) nanowires were studied using lowerature cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopic imaging, in combination with scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) tomography, allowing for the first time a robust correlation between the luminescence properties of these nanowires and their size and inner 3D structure down to the nanoscale. Besides the core luminescence and minor defects-related contributions, each nanowire showed one or more QWT peaks associated with nanowire regions of different diameters. The values of the GaAs shell thickness corresponding to each QWT peak were then determined from the nanowire diameters by employing a multishell growth model upon validation against experimental data (core diameter and GaAs and AlGaAs shell thickness) obtained from the analysis of the 3D reconstructed STEM tomogram of a GaAs-AlGaAs QWT nanowire. We found that QWT peak energies as a function of thus-estimated (3-7 nm) GaAs shell thickness are 40-120 meV below the theoretical values of exciton recombination for uniform QWTs symmetrically wrapped around a central core. However, the analysis of the 3D tomogram further evidenced azimuthal asymmetries as well as (azimuthal and axial) random fluctuations of the GaAs shell thickness, suggesting that the red-shift of QWT emissions is prominently due to carrier localization. The CL mapping of QWT emission intensities along the nanowire axis allowed to directly image the nanoscale localization of the emission, supporting the above picture. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the luminescence-structure relationship in QWT nanowires and will foster their applications as efficient nanolaser sources for future monolithic integration onto silicon.
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    Transformation of epitaxial NiMnGa/InGaAs nanomembranes grown on GaAs substrates into freestanding microtubes
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016) Müller, C.; Neckel, I.; Monecke, M.; Dzhagan, V.; Salvan, G.; Schulze, S.; Baunack, S.; Gemming, T.; Oswald, S.; Engemaiere, V.; Mosca, D.H.
    We report the fabrication of Ni2.7Mn0.9Ga0.4/InGaAs bilayers on GaAs (001)/InGaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. To form freestanding microtubes the bilayers have been released from the substrate by strain engineering. Microtubes with up to three windings have been successfully realized by tailoring the size and strain of the bilayer. The structure and magnetic properties of both, the initial films and the rolled-up microtubes, are investigated by electron microscopy, X-ray techniques and magnetization measurements. A tetragonal lattice with c/a = 2.03 (film) and c/a = 2.01 (tube) is identified for the Ni2.7Mn0.9Ga0.4 alloy. Furthermore, a significant influence of the cylindrical geometry and strain relaxation induced by roll-up on the magnetic properties of the tube is found.