Tuning the onset voltage of resonant tunneling through InAs quantum dots by growth parameters

We investigated the size dependence of the ground-state energy in self-assembled InAs quantum dots embedded in resonant tunneling diodes. Individual current steps observed in the current–voltage characteristics are attributed to resonant single-electron tunneling via the ground state of individual InAs quantum dots. The onset voltage of the first step observed is shown to decrease systematically from 200 mV to 0 with increasing InAs coverage. We relate this to a coverage-dependent size of InAs dots grown on AlAs. The results are confirmed by atomic force micrographs and photoluminescence experiments on reference samples.