Quantum dots in semiconductor optoelectronic devices

Both wet and dry semiconductor quantum dots (SQD) will be effectively incorporated into optoelectronic devices to improve performance and enable higher efficiency photodetectors and emitters. These nanoscale materials have electronic and optical properties between those of much larger macro and microscale bulk semiconductor crystals, and much smaller atoms and molecules. Dry Bohr-exciton scale quantum dots are formed using a bottom up approach, with the use of epitaxial techniques to produce SDQs from atomic constituents and/or molecular precursors. For most epitaxial QDs, the minimization strain energy resulting in the formation of three dimensional islands occur during the Stranski-Krastanow (S-K) growth mode, which is characterized by the formation of a two-dimensional pseudomorphic layer, followed by the three dimensional QD growth. Innovative epitaxial techniques will also significantly increase epitaxial SQD uniformity and consequently the performance of SQD optoelectronic devices.