Role of re-growth interface preparation process for spectral line-width reduction of single InAs site-controlled quantum dots

Abstract

We present growth and optical characterization measurements of single InAs site-controlled quantum dots (SCQDs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs (001) patterned substrates by atomic force microscopy oxidation lithography. InAs SCQDs directly grown on the patterned surface were used as a seed layer and strain template for the nucleation of optically active single InAs SCQDs. The preservation of the initial geometry of the engraved pattern motifs after the re-growth interface preparation process, the lack of buffer layer growth prior to InAs seed layer deposition and the development of suitable growth conditions provide us an improvement of the SCQDs' active layer optical properties while retaining a high ratio of single occupation (89%). In this work a fivefold reduction of the average optical line-width from 870 μeV to 156 μeV for InAs SCQDs located 15 nm from the re-growth interface is obtained by increasing the temperature of the initial thermal treatment step of the re-growth interface from 490 °C to 530 °C.