Photoluminescence properties of multiple stacked planes of GaN/AlN quantum dots studied by near-field optical microscopy.

Abstract

We have studied the photoluminescence properties of GaN quantum dots with submicrometre lateral resolution by means of near-field scanning optical microscopy. The instrument operated at room temperature and was implemented for near-ultra-violet spectroscopy in the illumination-mode configuration. The analysed sample consisted of several stacked planes of GaN/AlN quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si(111) substrate. The photoluminescence maps showed islands in the micrometre range emitting at different wavelengths, confirming the atomic force microscopy studies on the morphology of similar uncapped samples.