Effect of growth interruption in 1.55 μm InAs/InAlGaAs quantum dots on InP grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We report the effect of growth interruptions on the structural and optical properties of InAs/InAlGaAs/
InP quantum dots using molecular beam epitaxy. We find that the surface quantum dots experience an
unintended ripening process during the sample cooling stage, which reshapes the uncapped InAs
nanostructures. To prevent this, we performed a partial capping experiment to effectively inhibit
structural reconfiguration of surface InAs nanostructures during the cooling stage, revealing that InAs
nanostructures first form quantum dashes and then transform into quantum dots via a ripening process.
Our result suggests that the appearance of buried InAs/InAlGaAs nanostructures can be easily
misunderstood by surface analysis.