Room-temperature photoluminescence of AP-MOVPE grown single GaSb/GaAs quantum dot layer

The effect of GaAs host matrix on excitonic behaviour in AP-MOVPE grown GaSb/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) was investigated. Room temperature (RT) photoluminescence (PL) emission was achieved from single layers of quantum dots by controlling the GaAs host matrix growth temperature. Samples were prepared using a GaSb dot growth temperature of 530 °C, followed by growth of a thin GaAs ‘cold’ cap, before depositing the final part of the GaAs capping layer at either 550 °C, 600 °C or 650 °C. PL measurements at 10 K revealed QD emission peaks for all the samples at around 1.1 eV. However, variable temperature PL revealed different thermal quenching rates of the emission, with the rates of quenching reduced with increasing GaAs growth temperature. This was ascribed to reduced defect densities in GaAs grown at higher temperature, which resulted in QD emission even at RT. The hole localisation energy determined for these samples at RT was approximately 470 meV.