Molecular beam epitaxial growth and photoluminescence characterization of self-organized Pb1−xSnxTe quantum dots embedded in a single-crystalline CdTe host matrix

Abstract

This report describes molecular beam epitaxial growth and photoluminescence properties of coherently embedded centrosymmetric Pb1−xSnxTe quantum dots (QDs) in a wide bandgap CdTe host matrix. These QDs were self-organized by a Pb1−xSnxTe growth on CdTe buffer layer at a high temperature of 280°C⁠. A highly efficient midinfrared emission from the QDs was obtained even at 300K with a proportional redshift to the Sn content in QDs. By considering both effects of strain-induced band deformation and quantum confinement in QD potentials, the transition energy observed was found to agree well with a theoretical calculation.