Effect of growth interruption time and growth temperature on the natural formation of InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum disk structures on GaAs (311)B substrates

We studied the effect of growth interruption time and growth temperature on the natural formation of InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum disk structures grown on high-index GaAs (311)B substrates by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy at about 800 °C. The InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum disks were uniformly grown only with growth interruption time of 0 s. With increasing growth interruption time, the self-organized growth mode disappeared with the growth interruption time of 20 s. During growth interruption, strain for the natural formation of quantum disks was released by intermixing between In and Al. With decreasing growth temperature, the quantum disk did not show a hexagonal shape with clear facets. The quantum disks were formed at temperature range between 700 and 830 °C. The self-organization appeared through strain-driven mass transport. The strain-driven mass transport seems to have two characteristic lengths such as the amplitude and the periodicity determined by In composition and the InGaAs layer thickness from electron-beam induced mass transport phenomena.