This work systematically investigated the optical and structural properties of multilayer
electronic vertically coupled InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QDs) structures grown by
molecular beam epitaxy for long-wavelength applications. A significant energy
blue-shift in the photoluminescence (PL) spectra from 30-period InAs/GaAs QDs
structures was observed as the GaAs spacer thickness was decreased. Transmission
electron microscopy (TEM) and PL measurements indicated that the abnormal
blue-shift can be attributed to the strain-driven In/Ga intermixing between QDs and
spacer layers, which overcompensates for the effects of electronic and structural
couplings between QD layers. Moreover, this study demonstrates that increasing the
growth rate of InAs QDs can prevent intermixing. A PL emission wavelength
of 1320 nm with strong luminescence at room temperature, which corresponds
to an energy red-shift of 50 meV from that of the single QD layer sample, was
achieved in a 10-period InAs/GaAs QD superlattice with a spacer thickness of 16 nm.