Effect of wire spacing on the strain-modified band gap in laterally aligned InGaAs/GaAs quantum wire nanostructures with varying wire widths

Effect of wire spacing on strain-modified band gap in laterally aligned InGaAs quantum wires (QWRs) in GaAs matrix has been investigated using finite element method and model solid theory. It was shown that the direct band gap of the QWR could be increased by decreasing wire width and further by employing a wider wire spacing at a given wire width. The increase in band gap was more pronounced at a smaller wire width and small wire spacing regime. It is therefore suggested that care must be taken in designing a quantum wire structure to exploit the effect of wire spacing on band gap in addition to the effect of wire width.