Effect of elastic anisotropy on the strain fields and band edges in stacked InAs/GaAs quantum dot nanostructures

The effect of elastic anisotropy on the strain fields and confinement potentials in InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) nanostructures was investigated for an isolated dot and a stacked multi-layer dots using finite element analysis and model solid theory. The assumption of isotropy tends to underestimate especially hydrostatic strain that is known to modify confinement potentials in conduction band. Consideration of anisotropy results in a wider band gap and shallower potential well as compared with the isotropic model. Since the band gap and potential well depth would be related to opto-electronic properties of quantum dot systems via quantum mechanical effects, it is suggested that consideration of elastic anisotropy in the calculation of strains and band structures is necessary for the design of QD-based opto-electronic devices.