Elastic Strain Fields In Lateral Double Ge/Si Quantum Dots

TL;DR

This paper models elastic strain fields in double Ge/Si quantum dots using atomistic simulations, revealing detailed strain and potential energy distributions relevant for quantum dot applications.

Contribution

It introduces an atomistic simulation approach for elastic strain in double quantum dots with cluster boundary conditions close to periodic ones.

Findings

Strain energy density distributions are mapped.

Electron potential energy distributions are analyzed.

Cluster boundary conditions effectively approximate periodic boundaries.

Abstract

Simulations of the elastic strain fields for double Ge/Si quantum dots located on the same wetting layer are carried out. The cluster approximation is used for the atomistic model based on the Keating potential. The spatial distributions of the strain energy density and electron potential energy are calculated using clusters containing atoms of 150 coordination spheres. It is shown that the used cluster boundary conditions are close to the periodic boundary conditions.