Carrier escape processes from self-organized InAs quantum dots QDs embedded in GaAs are investigated by time-resolved capacitance spectroscopy. Electron emission is found to be dominated by tunneling processes. In addition to tunneling from the ground state, we find thermally activated tunneling involving excited QD states with an activation energy of 82 meV. For holes, the tunnel contribution is negligible and thermal activation from the QD ground state to the GaAs valence band with an activation energy of 164 meV dominates. Extrapolation to room temperature yields an emission time constant of 5 ps for holes, which is an order of magnitude larger than for electrons. The measured activation energies agree well with theoretically predicted QD levels.

Capacitance-voltage characteristics have been measured at various frequencies and temperatures for structures containing a sheet of self-assembled InAs quantum dots in both n-GaAs and p-GaAs matrices. Analysis of the capacitance-voltage characteristics shows that the deposition of 1.7 ML of InAs forms quantum dots with electron levels 80 meV below the bottom of the GaAs conduction band and two heavy-hole levels at 100 and 170 meV above the top of the GaAs valence band. The carrier energy levels agree very well with the recombination energies obtained from photoluminescence spectra. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(98)01034-1

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