Microfabrication and optical study of reactive ion etched InGaAsP/InP and GaAs/GaAlAs quantum wires

Abstract

Microfabrication of reactive ion etched InGaAsP/InP and GaAs/GaAlAs quantum wire structures with dimensions down to 30 nm has been achieved. From time-resolved photoluminescence, the importance of surface recombination effects is outlined in both systems. It is shown that the use of epitaxial overgrowth leads to a significant increase of the carrier lifetime in GaAs/GaAlAs wires, so that emission of very narrow wires (width<40 nm) can be detected. The possible assignment of the observed shifts of the cw photoluminescence peak energies to additional lateral confinement effects is discussed.