Fabrication and optical characterization of quantum wires from semiconductor materials with varying In content

We have fabricated semiconductor wires from materials with varying In content and measured the quantum efficiency as a function of lateral wire width and temperature. The intensity decay observed for narrow wires can be explained by surface recombination at the wire sidewalls and the existence of an optically inactive layer. Sidewall recombination velocity as well as the width of the inactive layer are found to systematically depend on the In content.