The dynamics of exciton recombination in an ensemble of indirect band-gap (In,Al)As/AlAs quantum dots with type-I band alignment is studied. The lifetime of confined excitons which are indirect in momentum-space is mainly influenced by the sharpness of the heterointerface between the (In,Al)As quantum dot and the AlAs barrier matrix. Time-resolved photoluminescence experiments and theoretical model calculations reveal a strong dependence of the exciton lifetime on the thickness of the interface diffusion layer. The lifetime of excitons with a particular optical transition energy varies because this energy is obtained for quantum dots differing in size, shape and composition. The different exciton lifetimes, which result in photoluminescence with non-exponential decay obeying a power-law function, can be described by a phenomenological distribution function G(τ ), which allows one to explain the photoluminescence decay with one fitting parameter only.
Structures with self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded in an AlAs matrix have been studied by steady-state and transient photoluminescence. It has been shown that in contrast to InAs/GaAs QD systems carriers are mainly captured by quantum dots directly from the AlAs matrix, while transfer of carriers captured by the wetting layer far away from QDs to the QDs is suppressed. At low temperatures the carriers captured by the wetting layer are localized by potential fluctuations at the wetting layer interface, while at high temperatures the carriers are delocalized but captured by nonradiative centers located in the wetting layer.
The atomic structure and energy spectrum of Ga(As,P)/GaP heterostructures were studied. It was shown that the deposition of GaAs of the same nominal thickness leads to the formation of pseudomorphic GaAs/GaP quantum wells (QW), fully relaxed GaAs/GaP self-assembled quantum dots (SAQDs), or pseudomorphic GaAsP/GaP SAQDs depending on the growth temperature. We demonstrate that the atomic structure of Ga(As,P)/GaP heterostructures is ruled by the temperature dependence of adatom diffusion rate and GaAs-GaP intermixing. The band alignment of pseudomorphic GaAs/GaP QW and GaAsP/GaP SAQDs is shown to be of type II, in contrast to that of fully relaxed GaAs/GaP SAQDs, which have the band alignment of type I with the lowest electronic states at the indirect L valley of the GaAs conduction band.
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