PREPERATION OF QUANTUM DOTS : EPITAXIAL

METHODS

Name: Ranjith R
SRN :R20MPH15
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
Department Of Physics ,School Of Applied Sciences
Date: 16/11/2021
INTRODUCTION TO EPITAXY

 Epitaxy refers to a type of crystal growth or material deposition in which

new crystalline layers are formed with one or more well-defined orientations
with respect to the crystalline seed layer.
 The deposited crystalline film is called an epitaxial film or epitaxial layer.
The relative orientation(s) of the epitaxial layer to the seed layer is defined
in terms of the orientation of the crystal lattice of each material

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 The word epitaxy derives from the Greek prefix epi meaning “upon” or “over”
and taxis meaning “arrangement” or “order.” 
  In homoepitaxy the growth layers are made up of the same material as the
substrate, while in heteroepitaxy the growth layers are of a material different
from the substrate.

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QD FORMATION

QD’s: If a semiconductor is grown on a substrate having a significantly different

lattice constant, then initially it will grow in a strained state to allow the atoms at the
substrate–epitaxial layer interface to ‘fit together’. However, energy is required to
strain a material and this energy builds up as the thickness of the epitaxial layer
increases. Eventually sufficient energy accumulates to break the atomic bonds of the
semiconductor and dislocations – discontinuities of the crystal lattice – form. The
thickness of material which can be grown before dislocations start to form is known as
the critical thickness. The critical thickness depends on the semiconductor being
grown and also the degree of lattice mismatch between this semiconductor and the
underlying semiconductor or substrate

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QD SYNTHESIS : EPITAXIAL GROWTH

There are a variety of epitaxial methods, which each have their own sub-
techniques;

 Liqiud Phase Epitaxy (LPE)

 Vapour Phase Epitaxy (VPE)
 Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE)

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LIQUID PHASE EPITAXY

Liquid phase epitaxy is a solution growth process whereby the driving force

for crystallization is provided by the slow cooling of a saturated solution
consisting of the material to be grown in a suitable solvent, while in contact
with a single crystal substrate.

Using a short-time, low-temperature LPE growth technique it is

possible to obtain InAs/GaAs nano-islands or QDs. The
existence of these nano-islands has been proved by means of
atom force microscope images and photoluminescence
spectra. The highest density of such nano-islands (in the case
of InAs/GaAs structures) was 2.6·1010 cm−2 .

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VAPOUR PHASE METHODS

 In vapour-phase methods layers of quantum dots are grown in an atom-by-atom process without any
patterning instead by hetero-epitaxial growth of highly strained materials.
 In general, the layered materials grow as a uniform, often epitaxial layer (Frank-van der Merwe
mode–FvdM), initially as a smooth layer sometimes followed by nucleation and growth of small
islands (Volmer-Weber mode–VW), or as small (quantum dots) islands directly on the substrate
(Stranski-Krastonow mode–SK).
 Depending on the interfacial/surface energies and lattice mismatch (i.e. lattice strain) one of these
growth modes is observed.
 For example, In the case of substrates with an overlayer with a large lattice mismatch and
appropriately small surface and interface energies, initial growth of the overlayer occurs through by
a layer-bylayer FvdM growth.

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Although, self-assembling of quantum dots using vapour-phase methods is effective in
producing quantum dots arrays without template, fluctuation in size of quantum dots
often results in inhomogeneous optoelectronic properties

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MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is the

deposition of one or more pure materials
onto a single crystal wafer one layer of
atoms at a time in order to form a perfect
crystal
widely used for growing IIIV
semiconductors and II-VI
semiconductors crystals.

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 In solid-source MBE, ultra-pure elements e.g. gallium and arsenic, are heated in
separate quasi-Knudsen effusion cells until they begin to slowly sublime.
 The gaseous elements then condense on the wafer, where they may react with each
other to form gallium arsenide quantum dots. MBE has lower throughput than other
forms of epitaxy.

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Thank you for
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