DIRECT IMPRINTING OF SiO2 WAVEGUIDE STRUCTURES ON GaAs AND ITS APPLICATION IN InAs/GaAs QUANTUM DOT INTERMIXING

A novel approach for intermixing of InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) structure by direct imprinting of SiO2 strips using silicafilm is presented. The silicafilm SiO2 strips were imprinted on a InAs/GaAs QD structure by an Obducat nanoimprinter using a polyethylene terepthalate soft mold. Inductively coupled plasma etching of GaAs waveguide structures using the imprinted SiO2 strips as hard mask has been demonstrated. By using the silicafilm SiO2 as a capping layer, the effects of impurity-free vacancy disordering intermixing on optical characteristics of the InAs/GaAs QD structure have been examined. The measured photoluminescence spectra of the InAs/GaAs QD structure suggest that differential wavelength blueshift of up to 105 nm for region with and without the SiO2 film can be achieved. A cost effective one step SiO2 hard mask with graded thickness profile for quantum well or QD intermixing by imprinting technique is proposed for application in broadband lasers and superluminescent diodes.