Piezoelectrically induced electronic confinement obtained by three-dimensional elastic relaxation in III-V semiconducting overhanging beams

In this work, we demonstrate theoretically that the piezoelectric effect ca n be used to achieve confinement over quantum distances in systems grown on [001] GaAs substrates. Such an effect can be achieved by making use of ela stic relaxation of micromachined strained structures. At the free corners o f the overhanging beams, shear deformations appear which induce a three-dim ensional V-shape potential. Calculations show the creation of quantum dots near the corners of the overhanging beams. (C) 1999 American Institute of P hysics. [S0003-6951(99)01212-7].