Facetting of the self-assembled droplet epitaxial GaAs quantum dot

In this work, droplet epitaxially grown GaAs quantum dots on AlGaAs surface are studied. The quantum dots are investigated in situ with RHEED and ex situ with TEM method. The TEM picture shows that the quantum dot is perfectly crystalline and fits very well to the crystal structure of the substrate. Furthermore, the side of the quantum dot shows stepped facet shape. Here, we show, how the stepped side shape forms from the droplet during crystallization. The RHEED picture shows broadened chevron-tail, which can be explained by the shape of the quantum dot. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.