Anomalous temperature dependence of photoluminescence spectra from InAs/GaAs quantum dots grown by formation–dissolution–regrowth method

Two kinds of InAs/GaAs quantum dot(QD) structures are grown by molecular beam epitaxy in formation–dissolution–regrowth method with different in-situ annealing and regrowth processes. The densities and sizes of quantum dots are different for the two samples. The variation tendencies of PL peak energy, integrated intensity, and full width at half maximum versus temperature for the two samples are analyzed, respectively. We find the anomalous temperature dependence of the InAs/GaAs quantum dots and compare it with other previous reports. We propose a new energy band model to explain the phenomenon. We obtain the activation energy of the carrier through the linear fitting of the Arrhenius curve in a high temperature range. It is found that the Ga As barrier layer is the major quenching channel if there is no defect in the material. Otherwise, the defects become the major quenching channel when some defects exist around the QDs.