Nanofabrication of III–V semiconductors employing diblock copolymer lithography

Abstract

To fully exploit the potential advantages of ideal quantum dots (QDs) (i.e. full 3D carrier confinement), elimination of the wetting layer and a uniform monomodal QD size distribution is needed. Nanopatterning with selective metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) QD growth has potential for achieving a higher degree of control over the QD formation, compared with the conventional Stranski–Krastanov (SK) self-assembly growth process. QD formation employing large surface area patterning prepared by dense nano-scale (20–30 nm diameter) diblock copolymer lithography is described. The resulting pattern consists of perpendicularly ordered cylindrical domain formed as part of a self-organizing diblock copolymer, such as polystyrene-block-poly(methylmethacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA). This pattern can be transferred to an underlying substrate or dielectric layer. Selective MOCVD growth of the QDs is achieved by employing the nanopatterned template mask. The resulting QD densities of 5 × 1010 cm−2 are comparable to densities achieved using the SK self-assembly growth mode. Nanopatterned growth yields a nearly monomodal QD size distribution. Variable temperature photoluminescence has been used to characterize the optical properties of capped InGaAs QDs on GaAs (λ ∼ 1.1 µm) and InP (λ ∼ 1.5 µm) substrates and preliminary results on the incorporation of such materials into diode laser structures are discussed. The extension of nanopatterned growth, beyond the pseudomorphic limit in the case of growth of strained-layer epitaxy, can lead to defect reduction and an improved morphology when compared with non-patterned growth.