Fabrication of quantum dot and cavity nanostructures

In this tutorial, I'll discuss fabrication aspects of cavities that contain quantum dots as active emitters. As far as the quantum dots are concerned, the most established fabrication technique is self-assembled Stranski-Krastanov growth [1]. This mechanism relies on the supply of a material with a lattice constant larger than that of the substrate, and quantum dots will form spontaneously after a certain planar layer thickness is exceeded. While self-assembled quantum dot growth has been reported for a number of material systems, the InGaAs/GaAs material combination remains the workhorse for QD cavity structures due to the excellent optical quality of the dots and the mature technology that is available for the GaAs material system.