Self-organized quantum dot formation by ion sputtering

✍ Scribed by S. Facsko; T. Dekorsy; C. Trappe; H. Kurz

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 952 KB
• Volume: 53
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0167-9317
• DOI: 10.1016/s0167-9317(00)00307-5

✦ Synopsis

Key requirements for the fabrication of semiconductor quantum dots (QD) are their size, size distribution and density. Beyond conventional lithography methods self-organization processes are promising for the realization of QDs. We present a new route for the generation of quantum dots, which in contrast to epitaxial growth is a subtractive self-organized and self-ordered method. It is based on a surface instability induced by low energy and normal incidence ion bombardment of semiconductor surfaces. Uniform crystalline islands with dimensions as small as 15 nm and densities up to 1011 cm-2 are formed by a cooperative process on the surface of semiconductors during continuous ion sputtering.