Hydrostatic pressure and temperature effects on the electronic energy levels of a spherical quantum dot placed at the center of a nano-wire

Abstract

The effect of pressure and temperature on the electronic structure of an InAs spherical quantum dot located at the center of a GaAs cylindrical nano-wire have been determined using finite element method, within the effective mass approximation. The energy levels and transition energies are numerically calculated as a function of the dot radius, pressure and temperature. It is shown that the pressure and temperature effects are significant and should be considered in the study of low-dimensional semiconducting systems. The results show that; energy levels (i) decrease as the dot radius increases (ii) decrease as the pressure increases and (iii) increase as the temperature increases. For very small dot radii, the energy levels show unusual behavior, such that the energy levels increase as the pressure increases. We also found that the transition energy (i) increases as the dot size decreases (ii) increases as the pressure increases and (iii) decreases as the temperature increases.