SPATIALLY CONFINED CHEMISTRY - FABRICATION OF GE QUANTUM-DOT ARRAYS

We report a technique for investigating nucleation and growth confined to nanometer scale surfaces. Lithographic and etching processes were used to create arrays of 100 and 150 nm holes through a thin SiO2 laye r onto Si(100). Ge dots were nucleated and grown to a few nanometers i n diameter within the patterned wells. Transmission electron and atomi c force microscopic analyses revealed the presence of 0-1 Ge quantum d ots in each of the 100 nm wells and 2-4 dots in the 150 Mn wells. For the latter case, size-distance correlations indicated the effective ra dius of the diffusion field around a growing Ge particle was much larg er than for growth on an infinite surface.