Investigation of the buried InAs/GaAs Quantum Dots by Atomic Force Microscopy combined with selective chemical etching

∗ ∗ ∗∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ The subject of the present paper is application of selective chemical etching to investigation of the morphology of the InAs quantum dots (QDs) built in GaAs matrix. Tracing the evolution of the surface morphology and of the optical and photoelectric properties of the QD structures during the etching process allows to determine the actual morphology of the QDs. It was shown that the sizes, shape, and photoelectronic properties of the QDs, grown by Atmospheric Pressure Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy directly on the surface and the ones of the QDs after removing of the cladding layer are different, that can be explained by differences in the QDs' formation conditions after deposition of InAs layer.