Metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy of coherent self-assembled InAs nanometer-sized islands in InP(001)

Abstract

The metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy of coherent self-assembled InAs islands on InP(001) is demonstrated. Samples are characterized using transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy at 77 K. The deposition of ∼2.4–4.8 monolayers (ML) of InAs at 500°C followed by a 30 s growth interruption results in the formation of coherent islands whose average diameter is 30–35 nm with a standard deviation of 8 nm and whose areal density is (3–4)×1010 cm−2. The PL emission is centered at 0.79 eV and has a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 90 meV. When the nominal deposited thickness is increased to ∼9.6 ML, the average island diameter increases to ∼120 nm while the areal density decreases to ∼109 cm−2. The resulting PL is then centered at 0.83 eV with a FWHM of 130 meV and also displays a peak at 1.23 eV which is attributed to an InAs wetting layer ∼2 ML in thickness.