Photon emission from the nanostructures of AlxGa1-xAs-GaAs produced by conventional lithographic and reactive ion-etching techniques

A simple fabrication technique using the conventional lithography and react ive ion etching is tried to obtain AlGaAs-GaAs-based random dot pillar arra ys of p-i-n structures. These nanopillars an characterized by the SEM from which the pillar statistics are obtained. The width of the pillars varies f rom 10 to 50 nm and the height of the pillars From 185 to 250 nm. The surfa ce morphology of these pillar structures is also analyzed by scanning tunne ling microscope (STM). The photoluminescence spectrum is obtained for etche d and unetched samples. The electroluminescence is detected when applying a forward bias voltage above 1.3 V and the emitted light is observed at 830- 850 nm. The temperature dependence of EL study is also discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.