Improving Quantum Well Tube Homogeneity Using Strained Nanowire Heterostructures

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Mar 1;15(8):10958-10964. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c22591. Epub 2023 Feb 13.

Abstract

Bottom-up grown nanostructures often suffer from significant dimensional inhomogeneity, and for quantum confined heterostructures, this can lead to a corresponding large variation in electronic properties. A high-throughput characterization methodology is applied to >15,000 nanoskived sections of highly strained GaAsP/GaAs radial core/shell quantum well heterostructures revealing high emission uniformity. While scanning electron microscopy shows a wide nanowire diameter spread of 540-60+60 nm, photoluminescence reveals a tightly bounded band-to-band transition energy of 1546-3+4 meV. A highly strained core/shell nanowire design is shown to reduce the dependence of emission on the quantum well width variation significantly more than in the unstrained case.

Keywords: heterostructure; high-throughput study; homogeneity; nanowire; quantum well; semiconductor.