Laser Induced Disordering of Quantum Wells: In Situ Fabri- cation and Analysis of Nanometer Scale Structures in a Scanning Electron Microscope

本提案要求拨款购买一台氩激光器和某些光学元件。该装置将用于研究砷化镓量子阱材料带隙横向调制技术。这项研究的一个目标是产生二维和三维的纳米级结构（所谓的量子线和量子点结构），可以集成到半导体激光有源层中。这种方法也可用于制造其他光学元件，如类似的小尺寸波导。在该技术中，使用氩气激光在微米尺度上局部熔化样品。该地区的晶体质量得以保持。在这种技术的一个更有选择性的版本中，我们将使用由氩气激光器泵浦的染料激光来“共振”熔化量子阱。通过纳米级掩蔽技术或小规模混合井，首席研究员希望观察到与电子气体横向约束增加相关的现象。处理将在已经配备阴极发光系统的扫描电子显微镜内进行，以便在现场处理和诊断测试可以同时进行。

In this proposal funding to purchase an Argon laser and certain optical components is requested. This equipment will be used to study a technique for creating lateral modulation of the bandgap in GaAs quantum well material. One goal of this research is to generate nanometer scale structures in two and three dimensions (so-called quantum wire and quantum dot structures) that can be incorporated in semiconductor laser active layers. This method will also be useful in fabricating other optical components, such as waveguides on a similar small scale. In the technique an Argon laser is used to locally melt the sample on a micron scale. Crystal quality of the region is maintained. In a more selective version of this technique we would use a dye laser pumped by the Argon laser to "resonantly" melt the quantum well. By means of a nanometer scale masking techniques or small scale intermixing of the well the principal investigator hopes to observe phenomena associated with this increased lateral confinement of the electron gas. Processing will occur inside a scanning electron microscope already equipped with a cathodoluminescence system so that in stiu processing and diagnostic tests can be run simultaneously.