Tunnelling into InAs quantum dots

Hill, Richard John Allan (2003) Tunnelling into InAs quantum dots. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

[img]
Preview
PDF - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
Download (11MB) | Preview

Abstract

This thesis describes an experimental study of the electronic properties of semiconductor heterostructure tunnel devices. InAs self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) are incorporated into the barrier layer of a GaAs/AlAs/GaAs tunnel diode. When a voltage, V, is applied across the device, we observe resonant features in the tunnel current, I, whenever an electron state in one of the qds comes into resonance with an occupied electron state in the emitter. We employ an electron state of a single qd as a spectroscopic probe of a two-dimensional electron system (2DES), from the Fermi energy to the subband edge [1]. For magnetic field B applied parallel to the current, we observe peaks in the I(V) characteristics corresponding to the formation of Landau levels in the 2DES. We obtain quantitative information about the energy dependence of the quasiparticle lifetime, Tqp, of the 2DES. We find that Tqp ~ 2.5 hbar=(Ef - E), in contrast with the expectation for a normal Fermi liquid, but in agreement with predictions for a Fermi liquid state of a disordered 2DES. Close to filling factor nu = 1 we observe directly the exchange enhancement of the g factor.

This thesis also describes the design, realisation and measurement of a tunnel diode incorporating InAs QDs and a series of 4 planar electrostatic gates. By applying a bias to the gates, it is possible to selectively inject current into a particular QD. We use magneto-tunnelling spectroscopy to determine the energy levels of the ground and excited state of a single QD, and to map the spatial form of the wave functions of these states [2].

The effect of pressure on the resonant tunnelling of the QDs is also described.

[1] P. C. Main et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 729 (2000)

[2] R. J. A. Hill et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 79, 3275 (2001)

Item Type: Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors: Main, Peter C.
Eaves, Laurence
Keywords: quantum dot, InAs, GaAs, resonant tunnelling, resonant tunneling, Landau level
Subjects: Q Science > QC Physics > QC501 Electricity and magnetism
Faculties/Schools: UK Campuses > Faculty of Science > School of Physics and Astronomy
Item ID: 10002
Depositing User: EP, Services
Date Deposited: 28 Apr 2003
Last Modified: 15 Oct 2017 16:59
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/10002

Actions (Archive Staff Only)

Edit View Edit View