Self-organized InGaAs strained quantum disks

We discovered a novel growth mode in a strained InGaAs system on a GaAs (311)B substrate. Surprisingly, this growth mode automatically produces a very small confined nanostructure during the growth interruption with a high substrate temperature by metal-organic-vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). We call this phenomenon self-organization, because it is accompanied by a pronounced ordering in the mutual arrangements of nanocrystals. The important point is that built-in strained InGaAs quantum disks within the nanocrystals exhibit a strong photoluminescence emission with a narrow linewidth at room temperature. This indicates that self-organization can possibly produce nanostructures of the quality needed for devices.