Optical and acoustic phonon modes in self-organized Ge quantum dot superlattices

Abstract

Raman scattering measurements were carried out in self-organized Ge quantum dot superlattices. The samples consisted of 25 periods of Ge quantum dots with different dot sizes sandwiched by 20 nm Si spacers, and were grown using solid-source molecular-beam epitaxy. Optical phonon modes were found to be around 300 cm−1, and a dependence of the Raman peak frequency on the size of dots was evidenced in good agreement with a prediction based on phonon confinement and strain effects. Acoustic phonons related to the Ge quantum dots have also been observed.