CDTE QUANTUM WIRES ACHIEVED BY STRAIN-INDUCED LATERAL CONFINEMENT

Nanometer-scale CdTe quantum wires have been fabricated using a two st ep epitaxial growth process. Modulation of the in-plane lattice consta nt of a [110]CdTe/CdZnTe quantum well grown over a [001]CdTe/CdZnTe st rained superlattice laterally confines the carriers to one dimension. The photoluminescence of these quantum wires presents a large energy s hift relative to the unmodulated [110] quantum well (QW) which is stro ngly dependent on the excitation density. The results compare very wel l with a theoretical model assuming no relaxation in the structure. Wi th this calculation, the dependence on excitation density of the wire exciton transition energy can be explained by taking into account the lateral piezoelectric field present in these strained modulated [110] structures.