Abstract
We review the mechanism and recent applications of the self-organized patterning of semiconductor surfaces by local droplet etching (LDE). LDE is a nanofabrication technique that is applicable in situ during molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and fully compatible with state-of-the-art MBE systems. Most importantly, as a local etching technique that works with a number of different materials, it adds a new degree of freedom to established self-assembling techniques. During LDE, metallic droplets drill nanoholes into a semiconductor surface with structural parameters adjustable over a wide range by the process conditions. In subsequent overgrowth steps the holes are filled for the formation of nanostructures like, e.g., quantum dots (QDs)Quantum dots or quantum pillars. In comparison to other QD systems, the LDE dots have the key advantages that they are strain-free, highly uniform, and that their size is precisely adjustable. In addition, vertically stacked quantum dot molecules have been realized. Crystalline nanopillars are created by a combination of in situ LDE with ex situ selective etching that are highly attractive for studies of ballistic phonon and electron transport, e.g., in the field of thermoelectrics.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bimberg, D., Grundmann, M., Ledentsov, N.N.: Quantum Dot Heterostructures. Wiley, Chichester (1999)
Herman, M.A., Sitter, H.: Molecular Beam Epitaxy: Fundamentals and Current Status. Springer, Berlin (1989)
Chikyow, T., Koguchi, N.: Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 29, L2093 (1990)
Koguchi, N., Takahashi, S., Chikyow, T.: J. Cryst. Growth 111, 688 (1991)
Koguchi, N., Ishige, K.: Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 32, 2052 (1993)
Mano, T., Watanabe, K., Tsukamoto, S., Fujioka, H., Oshima, M., Koguchi, N.: Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 38, L1009 (1999)
Watanabe, K., Koguchi, N., Gotoh, Y.: Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 39, L79 (2000)
Mano, T., Watanabe, K., Tsukamoto, S., Koguchi, N., Fujioka, H., Oshima, M., Lee, C.D., Leem, J.Y., Lee, H.J., Noh, S.K.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 76, 3543 (2000)
Kim, J.S., Koguchi, N.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 85, 5893 (2004)
Kuroda, T., Mano, T., Ochiai, T., Sanguinetti, S., Sakoda, K., Kido, G., Koguchi, N.: Phys. Rev. B 72, 205301 (2005)
Yamagiwa, M., Mano, T., Kuroda, T., Tateno, T., Sakoda, K., Kido, G., Koguchi, N.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 113115 (2006)
Huang, S., Niu, Z., Fang, Z., Ni, H., Gong, Z., Xia, J.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 031921 (2006)
Heyn, Ch., Stemmann, A., Schramm, A., Welsch, H., Hansen, W., Nemcsics, Á.: Phys. Rev. B 76, 075317 (2007)
Abbarchi, M., Mastrandrea, C.A., Kuroda, T., Mano, T., Sakoda, K., Koguchi, N., Sanguinetti, S., Vinattieri, A., Gurioli, M.: Phys. Rev. B 78, 125321 (2008)
Stock, E., Warming, T., Ostapenko, I., Rodt, S., Schliwa, A., Töfflinger, J.A., Lochmann, A., Toropov, A.I., Moshchenko, S.A., Dmitriev, D.V., Haisler, V.A., Bimberg, D.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 093112 (2010)
Lee, J.H., Wang, Zh.M., Kim, E.S., Kim, N.Y., Park, S.H., Salamo, G.J.: Nanoscale Res. Lett. 5, 308 (2010)
Moison, J.M., Houzay, F., Barthe, F., Lepronce, L., Andre, E., Vatel, O.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 64, 196 (1994)
Madhukar, A., Xie, Q., Chen, P., Konkar, A.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 64, 2727 (1994)
Leonard, D., Krishnamurthy, M., Fafard, S., Merz, J.L., Petroff, P.M.: J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 12, 1063 (1994); Leonard, D., Fafard, S., Zhang, Y.H., Merz, J.L., Petroff, P.M.: J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 12, 2516 (1994)
Volmer, M., Weber, A.: Z. Phys. Chem. 119, 277 (1926)
Heyn, Ch., Stemmann, A., Hansen, W.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 173110 (2009)
Heyn, Ch.: Phys. Rev. B 83, 165302 (2011)
Wang, Zh.M., Liang, B.L., Sablon, K.A., Salamo, G.J.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 113120 (2007)
Heyn, Ch., Stemmann, A., Eiselt, R., Hansen, W.: J. Appl. Phys. 105, 054316 (2009)
Heyn, Ch., Stemmann, A., Köppen, T., Strelow, Ch., Kipp, T., Mendach, S., Hansen, W.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 94, 183113 (2009)
Heyn, Ch., Stemmann, A., Köppen, T., Strelow, Ch., Kipp, T., Grave, M., Mendach, S., Hansen, W.: Nanoscale Res. Lett. 5, 576 (2010)
Heyn, Ch., Klingbeil, M., Strelow, Ch., Stemmann, A., Mendach, S., Hansen, W.: Nanoscale Res. Lett. 5, 1633 (2010)
Stemmann, A., Heyn, Ch., Köppen, T., Kipp, T., Hansen, W.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 123108 (2008)
Stemmann, A., Heyn, Ch., Hansen, W.: J. Appl. Phys. 106, 064315 (2009)
Ostwald, W.: Z. Phys. Chem. 34, 495 (1900)
Heyn, Ch., Stemmann, A., Strelow, Ch., Köppen, T., Sonnenberg, D., Graf, A., Mendach, S., Hansen, W.: J. Nanoelectron. Optoelectron. 6, 62–67 (2011)
Kumah, D.P., Shusterman, S., Paltiel, Y., Yacoby, Y., Clarke, R.: Nat. Nanotechnol. 4, 835 (2009)
Thurmond, C.D.: J. Phys. Chem. Solids 26, 785 (1965)
Sonnenberg, D., Graf, A., Paulava, V., Hansen, W., Heyn, Ch.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 143106 (2012)
Venables, J.A.: Philos. Mag. 27, 693 (1973); Venables, J.A., Spiller, G.D., Hanbücken, M.: Rep. Prog. Phys. 47, 399 (1984)
Heyn, Ch., Stemmann, A., Hansen, W.: J. Cryst. Growth 311, 1839 (2009)
Polojärvi, V., Schramm, A., Guina, M., Stemmann, A., Heyn, Ch.: Nanotechnology 22, 105603 (2011)
Singh, R., Bester, G.: Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 196803 (2010)
Benson, O., Santori, C., Pelton, M., Yamamoto, Y.: Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2513 (2000)
Gammon, D., Snow, E.S., Shanabrook, B.V., Katzer, D.S., Park, D.: Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 3005 (1996)
Heyn, Ch., Strelow, Ch., Hansen, W.: New J. Phys. 14, 053004 (2012)
Bayer, M., Hawrylak, P., Hinzer, K., Fafard, S., Korkusinski, M., Wasilewski, Z.R., Stern, O., Forchel, A.: Science 291, 451 (2001)
Heyn, Ch., Schmidt, M., Schwaiger, S., Stemmann, A., Mendach, S., Hansen, W.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 033105 (2011)
Majumdar, W.: Science 303, 777 (2004)
Vineis, C.J., Shakouri, A., Majumdar, A., Kanatzidis, M.G.: Adv. Mater. 22, 3970 (2010)
Nielsch, K., Bachmann, J., Kimling, J., Böttner, H.: Adv. Energy Mater. 1, 713 (2011)
Bartsch, Th., Schmidt, M., Heyn, Ch., Hansen, W.: Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 075901 (2012)
Cahill, D.G.: Rev. Sci. Instrum. 61, 802 (1990)
Cahill, D.G., Katiyar, M., Abelson, J.R.: Phys. Rev. B 50, 6077 (1994)
Jeong, C., Lundstrom, M.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 233109 (2012)
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Andrea Stemmann and Jochen Kerbst for MBE growth and AFM characterizations, Andreas Graf, Achim Küster, Christian Strelow, and Tim Köppen for PL measurements, and Thorben Bartsch for measurements of the thermal conductance. Furthermore, we thank Stefano Sanguinetti, Takaaki Mano, Nobuyuki Koguchi, and Richard Warburton for very helpful and stimulating discussions. Finally, we thank the “Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft” for financial support via HA 2042/6-1, GrK 1286, and SSP 1386.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Heyn, C., Sonnenberg, D., Hansen, W. (2013). Local Droplet Etching: Self-assembled Nanoholes for Quantum Dots and Nanopillars. In: Wang, Z. (eds) Nanodroplets. Lecture Notes in Nanoscale Science and Technology, vol 18. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9472-0_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9472-0_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-9471-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9472-0
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)