Effect of size on electronic states in a strained pyramidal InAs-GaAs quantum dot system

The effect of size on electronic states in a strained pyramidal InAs-GaAs quantum dot system was studied. A comparison was made between two InAs quantum pyramids of different sizes embedded inside a cubic GaAs susbtrate material. Strain relaxation was carried out via the Metropolis Monte Carlo method and the calculated local strain tensors were then included to solve the energy values and the wave functions of the electronic states inside the two simulation cube. The 3D finite difference scheme was employed to solve the time independent Schrödinger equation based on the decoupled electron-hole model. Calculated energy values of the four lowest electronic states showed that the transitions between the electron and hole states widen as the size of the dot becomes smaller especially between the ground states. The confinement of electrons and holes become weaker as the size of the dot reduces