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Self-assembled quantum dots 共QDs兲 may allow the pro- Planar view and cross section TEM specimens were
duction of semiconductor lasers with lower threshold cur- made of unprocessed material. Planar view specimens were
rents and temperature sensitivity in comparison with quan- prepared by removing the material above and below the QD
tum well devices.1,2 InAs dots in an InGaAs well—the dot- layers to obtain a specimen with the active layers in the
in-well 共DWELL兲 structure—allows 1.3 m emission at electron transparent region. Typical TEM images of the three
room temperature. Furthermore, this approach increases the samples are shown in Fig. 1. Defects were found in all three
QD density in comparison with the InAs/ GaAs system and samples, although the defect density of sample A, with no
increases carrier capture efficiency.3,4 anneal, is significantly higher than that of the other two.
Here we present transmission electron microscope Three types of defect were found: 共a兲 stacks of defective
共TEM兲 characterization and current density/voltage 共J-V兲 dots, where the defective region increases in each subsequent
measurements of three DWELL heterostructures 共A–C兲 with QD layer 关Fig. 1共a兲兴, only found in sample A; 共b兲 defective
details given in Table I. For each, the active region consisted dots that gave rise to threading dislocations and/or stacking
of five InAs:InGaAs DWELLs separated by 35 nm GaAs faults; and 共c兲 defective dots that gave rise to no threading
spacer layers. Each DWELL consisted of 3.0 ML InAs on dislocations. For sample C, no defective dots were observed
2 nm In0.15Ga0.85As, covered by 6 nm In0.15Ga0.85As. After in cross section images, as might be expected since the vol-
DWELL growth and deposition of 5 nm GaAs, growth was ume of the material examined in a cross section TEM speci-
halted for samples B and C, while the temperature was men is very small, and no threading dislocations were ob-
ramped over 150 s to an annealing temperature Tann which served in planar view images, which places an upper limit on
was maintained for a further 60 s, before growth of the re- the threading dislocation density of approximately
maining 30 nm of GaAs at TG = 585 ° C. No growth halt or
annealing was employed for sample A. These active layers TABLE I. Growth temperatures, fitting parameters, and dot/defect densities.
lie at the center of an undoped 50 nm GaAs:AlGaAs cavity,
with 1.2 m Al0.4Ga0.6As cladding layers and a 300 nm p+ A B C
GaAs contact layer. We have found previously that inclusion Tann 共°C兲 ¯ 585 610
of the annealing step has a significant beneficial effect on the TG, GaAs 510 510 510
material quality.5 A previous electroluminescence study on spacer 共°C兲
the same samples suggested that the reduction in EL intensity TG, DWELL 共°C兲 515 505 505
at room temperature and above in these samples is due to n 艌2 1.7 1.4
thermal escape of carriers from the QDs to the GaAs barrier, dot 共cm−2兲 1.6⫻ 1010 3.0⫻ 1010 3.5⫻ 1010
where they recombine nonradiatively with defects.6 TD 共cm−2兲 1.3⫻ 108 1.5⫻ 107 共0兲
def 共cm−2兲 5.7⫻ 108 9 ⫻ 107 2 ⫻ 107
tot 共cm−2兲 7 ⫻ 108 1.1⫻ 108 2 ⫻ 107
a兲
Electronic mail: ana.fuentes@uca.es.
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024502-2 Sanchez et al. J. Appl. Phys. 106, 024502 共2009兲
1 ⫻ 104 cm−2. Several planar view TEM images were ana- 200 m, and the data were converted to units of current
lyzed for each sample 共counting ⬎2500 QDs for samples A density-voltage 共J-V兲 by dividing by the mesa area. In all
and B and ⬎4000 QDs for sample C兲, allowing measure- cases the resulting J-V curves were coincident to within a
ments of dot density and defect density to be made, given in few percent, indicating the reproducibility of the measure-
Table I. The benefits of the annealing step are clear, resulting ments and the bulk nature of the dominant current transport
in the elimination of defective stacks of dots and a significant mechanism. Average FB J-V curves for the three samples are
reduction 共approximately 30 times from samples A to C兲 in shown in Fig. 2, while the inset shows the RB current density
the density of defective dots, although they are not elimi- with respect to the electric field. All samples show relatively
nated completely. high FB and RB leakage currents in comparison with a typi-
Forward bias 共FB兲 and reverse bias 共RB兲 current-voltage cal quantum well structure.
measurements were performed at room temperature in a dark The FB current density in a diode can be approximated
enclosure. For each sample, measurements were made of with the diode equation, J ⬇ J0 exp共qV / nkT兲, when V
several circular mesas with nominal radii of 50, 100, and ⬎ 3kt / qV, where q = electron charge, k = Boltzmann’s con-
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024502-3 Sanchez et al. J. Appl. Phys. 106, 024502 共2009兲
FIG. 4. 共Color online兲 Cross section TEM image of a defective dot in the
upper DWELL layer of sample A. A depression in the overlying
GaAs/ AlGaAs interface can be seen.
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024502-4 Sanchez et al. J. Appl. Phys. 106, 024502 共2009兲
sition of the GaAs:AlGaAs interface above the defective dot the leakage current for the smaller mesas as they would con-
is marked with a line, clearly showing a depression above the tain very few threading defects. This was not observed. We
dot. Large depressions are clearly visible in the stack of de- thus propose that the primary leakage current path in these
fective dots in Fig. 1共a兲, and it can be seen that the QDs samples is due to defective dots that do not produce thread-
which lie in the depression tend to be significantly larger ing dislocations. The exponential dependence of the current
than those lying on a planar surface. It thus seems reasonable on the applied bias is suggestive of a tunneling mechanism,
to suppose that a QD that nucleates in a depression will tend although due to the complexity of modeling current transport
to be larger, and therefore exceed the critical dimensions for through a defective DWELL structure this remains to be con-
the nucleation of defects more rapidly. Furthermore, it may firmed.
be expected that a growth halt and high temperature anneal- IV. SUMMARY
ing allows more efficient planarization of the GaAs surface
due to increased surface diffusion. We have investigated a set of three DWELL samples
Without this planarization before growth of subsequent with spacer layer annealing. We find that increasing Tann can
QD layers, the next layer of QDs may nucleate preferentially result in ⬎30 times fewer defective dots and threading de-
in the depressions, producing larger dots. This appears to fects, which is reflected in a RB leakage current density that
explain the origins of the stacks of defective dots seen in is 10 000 times lower. The RB J-V curves show an initial
sample A, especially since depressions of this kind were not rapid rise, followed by an exponential increase, which we
observed in samples B and C. attribute to leakage through defective QDs rather than
Several studies give a critical thickness hc for defect for- threading dislocations. The mechanism for the improvement
mation in InAs/ GaAs QD structures between 2.7 and 3.0 in the material quality appears to be the reduction in the
ML.9–11 However, we have shown here that the growth con- surface roughness of the spacer layers, which allows a more
ditions used for both the QDs and the surrounding layers uniform nucleation of QDs in subsequent layers and elimi-
nation of stacks of defective dots, and we have given clear
have a very large effect and a “critical thickness” may not be
evidence of interfacial roughness associated with defective
a particularly useful parameter to be used in the design of
QDs in the sample with the lowest spacer layer Tann.
QD structures. A better starting point is the observation that
once a QD exceeds a critical size 共in three dimensions兲, it 1
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