Piezoelectric properties of GaN self-organized quantum dots

Abstract

It is demonstrated that GaN quantum dots with the wurtzite structure grown by molecular beam epitaxy on AlN exhibit optical properties which, depending on the size of the dots, may be dominated by piezoelectric effects. In "large" quantum dots with an average height and diameter of 4.1 and 17 nm, respectively, the photoluminescence peak is centered at 2.95 eV, nearly 0.5 eV below the bulk GaN bandgap, which is assigned to a piezoelectric field of 5.5 MV/cm present in the dots. The decay time of the photoluminescence was also measured. A comparison is carried out with theoretical calculation of the radiative lifetime.