Finite element analysis of stress and strain distributions in InAs/GaAs quantum dots
Zhou Wang-Min (周旺民)ab, Wang Chong-Yu (王崇愚)bc, Chen Yong-Hai (陈涌海)d, Wang Zhan-Guo (王占国)d
a College of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, Chinab Institute of Functional Materials, Central Iron & Steel Research Institute, Beijing 100081, China; c Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; d Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Materials Science, Institute of Semiconductors,Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, China
Abstract In this paper, we perform systematic calculations of the stress and strain distributions in InAs/GaAs truncated pyramidal quantum dots (QDs) with different wetting layer (WL) thickness, using the finite element method (FEM). The stresses and strains are concentrated at the boundaries of the WL and QDs, are reduced gradually from the boundaries to the interior, and tend to a uniform state for the positions away from the boundaries. The maximal strain energy density occurs at the vicinity of the interface between the WL and the substrate. The stresses, strains and released strain energy are reduced gradually with increasing WL thickness. The above results show that a critical WL thickness may exist, and the stress and strain distributions can make the growth of QDs a growth of strained three-dimensional island when the WL thickness is above the critical value, and FEM can be applied to investigate such nanosystems, QDs, and the relevant results are supported by the experiments.
Received: 22 November 2005
Revised: 23 March 2006
Accepted manuscript online:
Fund: Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No 90101004) and by the
National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No G2000067102).
Cite this article:
Zhou Wang-Min (周旺民), Wang Chong-Yu (王崇愚), Chen Yong-Hai (陈涌海), Wang Zhan-Guo (王占国) Finite element analysis of stress and strain distributions in InAs/GaAs quantum dots 2006 Chinese Physics 15 1315
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