InGaAs quantum dot chains grown by twofold selective area molecular beam epitaxy.

Increasing quantum confinement in semiconductor quantum dot (QD) systems is essential to perform robust simulations of many-body physics. By combining molecular beam epitaxy and lithographic techniques, we developed an approach consisting of a twofold selective area growth to build QD chains. Starting from 15 nm-thick and 65 nm-wide in-plane InGaAs nanowires on InP substrates, linear arrays of InGaAs QDs were grown on top, with tunable lengths and separations. Kelvin probe force microscopy performed at room temperature revealed a change of quantum confinement in chains with decreasing QD sizes, which was further emphasized by the spectral shift of quantum levels resolved in the conduction band with low temperature scanning tunneling spectroscopy. This approach, which allows the controlled formation of 25 nm-thick QDs with a minimum length and separation of 30 nm and 22 nm respectively, is suitable for the construction of scalable fermionic quantum lattices.