Thermoelectromechanical effects in quantum dots

Patil, S.R. and Melnik, R.V.N.

Nanotechnology, 20(12), 125402, 2009

Abstract:

Electromechanical effects are important in semiconductor nanostructures as most of the semiconductors are piezoelectric in nature. These nanostructures find applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices where they may face challenges for thermal management. Low dimensional semiconductor nanostructures, such as quantum dots (QD) and nanowires, are the nanostructures where such challenges must be particularly carefully addressed. In this contribution we report a study on thermoelectromechanical effects in QDs. For the first time a coupled model of thermoelectroelasticity has been applied to the analysis of quantum dots and the influence of thermoelectromechanical effects on bandstructures of low dimensional nanostructures has been quantified. Finite element solutions are obtained for different thermal loadings and their effects on the electromechanical properties and bandstructure of QDs are presented. Our model accounts for a practically important range of internal and external thermoelectromechanical loadings. Results are obtained for typical QD systems based on GaN/AlN and CdSe/CdS (as representatives of III-V and II-VI group semiconductors, respectively), with cylindrical and truncated conical geometries. The wetting layer effect on electromechanical quantities is also accounted for. The energy bandstructure calculations for various thermal loadings are performed. Electromechanical fields are observed to be more sensitive to thermal loadings in GaN/AlN QDs as compared to CdSe/CdS QDs. The results are discussed in the context of the effect of thermal loadings on the performance of QD-based nanosystems.