Identification of atomic-like electronic states in indium arsenide nanocrystal quantum dots

Article Abstract:

Semiconductor quantum dots mark a transition between molecular and solid-state regimes and may be described as artificial atoms. Cryogenic scanning tunnelling spectroscopy was used to identify atomic-like electronic states with s and p properties in a range of indium arsenide nanocrystals. The states manifest as two and six fold single electron charging multiplets, following an atom-like Aufbau principle of sequential energy level occupation.

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A step up to self-assembly

Article Abstract:

One of nature's mechanisms for creating nanometer-scale objects when atoms are deposited and grow into thin films on a solid surface of the same material known as thin-film homoepitaxy is presented. On the basis of the bond-counting arguments, homoeptaxial atoms residing at the bottom of a step edge of a close-packed surface should be the most secure, because they have full complement of neighboring atoms in the substrate below them.

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A giant atomic slide-puzzle

Article Abstract:

New research shows that closely-packed indium atoms move around at high rates, even though they are closely linked to their neighbours. The movement is similar to a slide-puzzle in which a square of tiles can be rearranged by sliding a single tile into an adjacent gap.

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