QUANTUM DOTS

M.E. (ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING)

SUBMITTED BYSOURAV MITRA
ME/EEE/1009/2011

DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED PHYSICS

BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
MESRA, RANCHI, PIN-835215

QUANTUM DOTS

What is QDs
Quantum dots are semiconducting single
crystals with almost zero defects ranging
in size from 1 to 20 nanometers.
Quantum dots can be synthesized from a
variety of materials, and are primarily
made from the III-V and II-VI class of sem
iconductors. These include gallium
arsenide, indium phosphide, indium
arsenide, cadmiumselenide, and zinc
sulfide.
At these small size, materials behave
differently, giving QDs unprecedented
tunability.

What is QDs
These structures can be modeled as 3dimensional quantum wells. As a result, they
exhibit energy quantization effects even at
distances several hundred times larger than
the material system lattice constant.
A quantum dot can indeed be visualized as a
well. Electrons, once trapped inside the dot,
do not alone possess the energy required to
escape. We can use quantum physics to our
advantage because the smaller a quantum dot
is physically, the higher the potential energy
necessary for an electron to escape

 Small quantum dots, such as

colloidal semiconductor
nanocrystals , can be as small as 2 to
10 nanometers, corresponding to 10
to 50 atoms in diameter and a total
of 100 to 100,000 atoms within the
quantum dot volume. Self-assembled
quantum dots are typically between
10 and 50 nm in size

Relative Size of QDs

Energy Band Diagrams

Intrinsic
Semiconductor

IV

Silicon is a group IV element, and has 4 valence electrons

per atom.
In pure silicon the valence band is completely filled at
absolute zero

Compound Semiconductors
III

Cont
In addition to group IV elements, compounds of
group III and group V elements, and also
compounds of group II and group VI elements are
often semiconductors.
The common feature to all of these is that they
have an average of 4 valence electrons per atom .
One example of a compound semiconductor is
gallium arsenide, GaAs. In a compound
semiconductor like GaAs, doping can be
accomplished by slightly varying the
stoichiometry, i.e., the ratio of Ga atoms to As
atoms.
A slight increase in the proportion of As produces
n-type doping, and a slight increase in the
proportion of Ga produces p-type doping

In a traditional semi conductors most electrons

stay in a lower energy level-Energy-Band gapCB-Not stable- back to VB-Absorbed energy
released-EM radiation(heat or light) emitted

Fluorescence

Fluorescence

Density of States
(how closely packed energy levels are)

Quantum confinement

Density of electronic states as a function of structure size

Evolution of the density of states as the dimensionality of the structure is

reduced
from 3D (bulk) to 0D (quantum dot). The density of states of an ideal
quantum dot is discrete, like in an atom.
Quantum dots are ordered collections of hundreds to thousands of
semiconductor type atoms.
The electrons associated with a dot are confined to this small set of
atoms.
On the nano-scale, when the electron is confined, the change in energy
levels
becomes distinctly discrete a condition known as quantum confinement.
Therefore the band gap is a function of size.
When there are lots of atoms, such as in a traditional semiconductor, the
bandgap
is not a function of size.
The significance of this nano property is that different size quantum dots
will
fluoresce in different colors.

Quantum Dots- A tunable range of

energies
Because quantum dots' electron
energy levels are discrete rather than
continuous, the addition or
subtraction of just a few atoms to the
quantum dot has the effect of
altering the boundaries of the
bandgap

How It Works

When the quantum dot is exposed to UV light it accepts the photon and
sends an electron from the valence band into the conduction band.
The electron wants to go back to its normal state so it travels back to
the valence band.
During this process there is electron radiation which emits the light you
see in the
vials.
Depending on the size of the bandgap the color will vary.
By controlling the size and composition of quantum dots, it is possible to
precisely choose the wavelength of light emitted during fluorescence.
Scientists can custom design and fabricate different dots for different
uses, ranging from medical imaging to light emitting diodes (LEDs).
Larger quantum dots have smaller gaps between energy levels. These
quantum
dots emit lower energy photons with a higher wavelength. These
quantum dots are typically 10nm in size, and will fluoresce red or
reddish.
Conversely smaller quantum dots have larger gaps between energy
levels.

Energy of photon( E)

The figure above charts the absorption and emission with

corresponding visible spectrum of light colors based upon
nanocrystal (quantum dot) size.

How Quantum Dots are Made

Quantum dots are manufactured
in a two step reaction process in a
glass flask.
This is initiated by heating a
solvent to
approximately 500 degrees
Fahrenheit and injecting
precursors such as cadmium and
selenium.
They chemically decompose and
recombine as pure CdSe
(cadmium
selenide) nanoparticles.
Once these nanocrystals form ,
the next step involves growth in
which sizes of the nanocrystals
can be determined based upon
varying the length of time of
reaction.
Quantum dots can then be
functionalized for various
biological uses

Surface Diffusion and Elasticity

Quantum Dots

Quantum dot growth

Quantum Dots Aplication

LEDs (light emitting diodes); solid state white light, lasers,

displays, memory, cell phones, and biological markers.
Biological marker applications of quantum dots have been
the earliest commercial applications of quantum dots.
In these applications, quantum dots are tagged to a variety
of nanoscale agents, like DNA, to allow medical researchers
to better understand molecular interactions
Biological Imaging, tagging

Quantum dots, visible under UV light,

have accumulated in tumors of a mouse.

Here, the nucleus

is blue, a specific
protein within the
nucleus is pink,
mitochondria
look yellow,
microtubules are
green, and actin
filaments are red