Excitons in charged Ge/Si type-II quantum dots

Abstract

Using electron-filling modulation absorption spectroscopy, we study the effect of quantum dot (QD) charging on the interband excitonic transitions in type-II Ge/Si heterostructures containing pyramidal Ge nanocrystals. In contrast to type-I systems, the ground-state absorption is found to be blueshifted when exciton-hole and exciton-exciton complexes are formed. We argue that this is the consequence of dominance of the hole-hole and electron-electron interactions compared to the electron-hole interaction due to the spatial separation of the electron and hole. The large oscillator strength (0.5) and the exciton binding energy (25 meV) are estimated from the experimental data. The results are explained by effects of the electron and hole localization and by electron wavefunction leakage in the dots. The electronic structure of spatially indirect excitons is calculated self-consistently in the effective-mass approximation for pyramidal-shaped Ge/Si QDs. The inhomogeneous strain distribution in the QD layer has been taken into account through modification of the confining potential. The calculations show that the electron of an indirect exciton resides in the Si near to the Ge pyramid apex due to maximum strain in this region, while the hole is confined close to the pyramid base. The electron-hole overlap is determined to be 15%. A satisfying agreement is found between all theoretical and experimental data.