• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.8-13
• /
• 2002

Controlled precipitation of quasi-binary semiconductor system is newly proposed as an effective and reliable technique for the formation of well-defined and crystallographically aligned semiconductor nanostructures. Using HgTe-PbTe quasi-binary semiconductor system, self-aligned HgTe nanocrystallites distributed three dimensionally within PbTe matrix were successfully formed by the simple three step heat treatment process routinely found in age hardening process of metallic alloys. Examination of the resulting nano precipitates using conventional transmission electron microscopy (CTEM) and high resolution TEM (HRTEM) reveals that the coherent HgTe precipitates form as thin discs along the (100) habit planes making a crystallographic relation of {100}$\_$HgTe///{100}$\_$PbTe/ and [100]$\_$HgTe///[100]$\_$PbTe/. It is also found that the precipitate undergoes a gradual thickening and a faceting under isothermal aging up to 500 hours without any noticeable coarsening. These results, combined with the extreme dimension of the precipitates (4-5 nm in length and sub-nanometer in thickness) and the simplicity of the formation process, leads to the conclusion that controlled precipitation is an effective method for preparing desirable quantum-dot nanostructures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2002.07a
• /
• pp.226-231
• /
• 2002

The present study discusses the results of the controlled precipitation of HgTe nanocrystals in a PbTe semiconductor matrix and demonstrates its effectiveness in producing well-organized and crystallographically aligned semiconductor nanocrystals. Following the similar procedure used in metallic alloys, the semiconductor alloys are treated at 600$^{\circ}C$ for 48 hours, quenched and aged up to 500 hours at 300$^{\circ}C$ and 450$^{\circ}C$ to induce homogeneous nucleation and growth of HgTe nanocrystalline precipitates. Examination of the resulting precipitates using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution TEM (HRTEM) reveals that the coherent HgTe precipitates form as thin discs along the {100} habit planes making a crystallographic relation of {100}$\sub$HgTe///{100}$\sub$PbTe/ and [100]$\sub$HgTe///[100]$\sub$PbTe/. It is also found that the nato-disc undergoes a gradual thickening and a faceting under isothermal aging up to 500 hours without any noticeable coarsening. These results, combined with the extreme dimension of the precipitates (4 nm in length and sub-nanometer in thickness) and the simplicity of the formation process, leads to the conclusion that controlled precipitation is an effective method for the preparation of the desirable quantum-dot nanostructures.