Holy Angel University

College of Engineering and Architecture

Angeles City

QUANTUM DOT
Submitted by:

Mananquil, Jerome S.
Narciso, Jason Conrad
Zapanta, Nicholson C.

Submitted to:
Dr. Ruby Pineda-Henson, Ph. D.

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History/Introduction
What is quantum dot?
A quantum dot is a nanocrystal made of semiconductor materials that are small enough
to exhibit quantum mechanical properties. Specifically, its excitons are confined in all
three spatial dimensions. The electronic properties of these materials are intermediate
between those of bulk semiconductors and of discrete molecules. Quantum dots were
discovered in a glass matrix by Alexei Ekimov and in colloidal solutions by Louis E.
Brus. The term "quantum dot" was coined by Mark Reed.
It is a semiconductor nanostructure that confines the motion of conduction band
electrons, valence band holes, or excitons (bound pairs of conduction band electrons
and valence band holes) in all three spatial directions.
The confinement can be due to electrostatic potentials (generated by external
electrodes, doping, strain, impurities), the presence of an interface between different
semiconductor materials (e.g. in core-shell nanocrystal systems), the presence of the
semiconductor surface (e.g. semiconductor nanocrystal), or a combination of these.
It has a discrete quantized energy spectrum.
The corresponding wave functions are spatially localized within the quantum dot, but
extend over many periods of the crystal lattice.
It contains a small finite number (of the order of 1-100) of conduction band electrons,
valence band holes, or excitons, i.e., a finite number of elementary electric charges.
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.
Quantum dots defined by lithographically patterned gate electrodes, or by etching on
two-dimensional electron gases in semiconductor heterostructures can have lateral
dimensions exceeding 100 nm.
At 10 nm in diameter, nearly 3 million quantum dots could be lined up end to end and fit
within the width of a human thumb.
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Properties
Optical Properties
Fluorescence spectra of CdTe quantum dots of various sizes. Different sized quantum
dots emit different color light due to quantum confinement.
An immediate optical feature of colloidal quantum dots is their color. While the material
which makes up a quantum dot defines its intrinsic energy signature, the nanocrystal's
quantum confined size is more significant at energies near the band gap. Thus quantum
dots of the same material, but with different sizes, can emit light of different colors. The
physical reason is the quantum confinement effect.
The larger the dot, the redder (lower energy) its fluorescence spectrum. Conversely,
smaller dots emit bluer (higher energy) light. The coloration is directly related to the
energy levels of the quantum dot. Quantitatively speaking, the bandgap energy that
determines the energy (and hence color) of the fluorescent light is inversely proportional
to the size of the quantum dot. Larger quantum dots have more energy levels which are
also more closely spaced. This allows the quantum dot to absorb photons containing
less energy, i.e., those closer to the red end of the spectrum.
Recent articles in Nanotechnology and in other journals have begun to suggest that the
shape of the quantum dot may be a factor in the coloration as well, but as yet not
enough information is available. Furthermore, it was shown that the lifetime of
fluorescence is determined by the size of the quantum dot. Larger dots have more
closely spaced energy levels in which the electron-hole pair can be trapped. Therefore,
electron-hole pairs in larger dots live longer causing larger dots to show a longer
lifetime.
As with any crystalline semiconductor, a quantum dot's electronic wave functions extend
over the crystal lattice. Similar to a molecule, a quantum dot has both a quantized
energy spectrum and a quantized density of electronic states near the edge of the band
gap.
Quantum dots can be synthesized with larger (thicker) shells (CdSe quantum dots with
CdS shells). The shell thickness has shown direct correlation to the spectroscopic
properties of the particles like lifetime and emission intensity, but also to the stability.

Production/Method of Processing
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Production
There are several ways to confine excitons in semiconductors, resulting in different
methods to produce quantum dots. In general, quantum wires, wells and dots are grown
by advanced epitaxial techniques in nanocrystals produced by chemical methods or by
ion implantation, or in nanodevices made by state-of-the-art lithographic techniques.
Colloidal synthesis
Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals are synthesized from precursor compounds
dissolved in solutions, much like traditional chemical processes. The synthesis of
colloidal quantum dots is done by using precursors, organic surfactants, and solvents.
Heating the solution at high temperature, the precursors decompose forming monomers
which then nucleate and generate nanocrystals. The temperature during the synthetic
process is a critical factor in determining optimal conditions for the nanocrystal growth. It
must be high enough to allow for rearrangement and annealing of atoms during the
synthesis process while being low enough to promote crystal growth. The concentration
of monomers is another critical factor that has to be stringently controlled during
nanocrystal growth. The growth process of nanocrystals can occur in two different
regimes, "focusing" and "defocusing". At high monomer concentrations, the critical size
(the size where nanocrystals neither grow nor shrink) is relatively small, resulting in
growth of nearly all particles. In this regime, smaller particles grow faster than large
ones (since larger crystals need more atoms to grow than small crystals) resulting in
"focusing" of the size distribution to yield nearly monodisperse particles. The size
focusing is optimal when the monomer concentration is kept such that the average
nanocrystal size present is always slightly larger than the critical size. Over time, the
monomer concentration diminishes, the critical size becomes larger than the average
size present, and the distribution "defocuses".
There are colloidal methods to produce many different semiconductors. Typical dots are
made of binary compounds such as lead sulfide, lead selenide, cadmium selenide,
cadmium sulfide, indium arsenide, and indium phosphide. Dots may also be made from
ternary compounds such as cadmium selenide sulfide. These quantum dots can contain
as few as 100 to 100,000 atoms within the quantum dot volume, with a diameter of 10 to
50 atoms. This corresponds to about 2 to 10 nanometers, and at 10 nm in diameter,
nearly 3 million quantum dots could be lined up end to end and fit within the width of a
human thumb.

Colloidal nanoparticle of lead sulfide (selenide) with complete passivation by oleic acid,
oleyl and hydroxyl (size ~5nm)

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Fabrication

Self-assembled quantum dots are typically between 5 and 50 nm in size.

Quantum dots defined by lithographically patterned gate electrodes, or by etching
on two-dimensional electron gases in semiconductor heterostructures can have
lateral dimensions exceeding 100 nm.

Some quantum dots are small regions of one material buried in another with a
larger band gap. These can be so-called coreshell structures, e.g., with CdSe in
the core and ZnS in the shell or from special forms of silica called ormosil.

Quantum dots sometimes occur spontaneously in quantum well structures due to

monolayer fluctuations in the well's thickness.

Self-assembled quantum dots nucleate spontaneously under certain conditions

during molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metallorganic vapor phase epitaxy
(MOVPE), when a material is grown on a substrate to which it is not lattice
matched. The resulting strain produces coherently strained islands on top of a
two-dimensional wetting layer. This growth mode is known as Stranski
Krastanov growth.
The islands can be subsequently buried to form the quantum dot. This fabrication
method has potential for applications in quantum cryptography (i.e. single photon
sources) and quantum computation. The main limitations of this method are the
cost of fabrication and the lack of control over positioning of individual dots.

Individual quantum dots can be created from two-dimensional electron or hole

gases present in remotely doped quantum wells or semiconductor
heterostructures called lateral quantum dots.
The sample surface is coated with a thin layer of resist. A lateral pattern is then
defined in the resist by electron beam lithography. This pattern can then be
transferred to the electron or hole gas by etching, or by depositing metal
electrodes (lift-off process) that allow the application of external voltages
between the electron gas and the electrodes. Such quantum dots are mainly of
interest for experiments and applications involving electron or hole transport, i.e.,
an electrical current.

The energy spectrum of a quantum dot can be engineered by controlling the

geometrical size, shape, and the strength of the confinement potential. Also, in
contrast to atoms, it is relatively easy to connect quantum dots by tunnel barriers
to conducting leads, which allows the application of the techniques of tunneling
spectroscopy for their investigation.

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Confinement in quantum dots can also arise from electrostatic potentials

(generated by external electrodes, doping, strain, or impurities).

CMOS technology can be employed to fabricate silicon quantum dots. Ultra small
(L=20 nm, W=20 nm) CMOS transistors behave as single electron quantum dots
when operated at cryogenic temperature over a range of 269 C (4 K) to about
258 C (15 K). The transistor displays Coulomb blockade due to progressive
charging of electrons one by one. The number of electrons confined in the
channel is driven by the gate voltage, starting from an occupation of zero
electrons, and it can be set to 1 or many.

Viral assembly
Lee et al. (2002) reported using genetically engineered M13 bacteriophage viruses to
create quantum dot biocomposite structures. As a background to this work, it has
previously been shown that genetically engineered viruses can recognize specific
semiconductor surfaces through the method of selection by combinatorial phage
display. Additionally, it is known that liquid crystalline structures of wild-type viruses (Fd,
M13, and TMV) are adjustable by controlling the solution concentrations, solution ionic
strength, and the external magnetic field applied to the solutions. Consequently, the
specific recognition properties of the virus can be used to organize inorganic
nanocrystals, forming ordered arrays over the length scale defined by liquid crystal
formation.
Using this information, Lee et al. (2000) were able to create self-assembled, highly
oriented, self-supporting films from a phage and ZnS precursor solution. This system
allowed them to vary both the length of bacteriophage and the type of inorganic material
through genetic modification and selection.
Electrochemical assembly
Highly ordered arrays of quantum dots may also be self-assembled by electrochemical
techniques. A template is created by causing an ionic reaction at an electrolyte-metal
interface which results in the spontaneous assembly of nanostructures, including
quantum dots, onto the metal which is then used as a mask for mesa-etching these
nanostructures on a chosen substrate.
Bulk-manufacture
Quantum dot manufacturing relies on a process called "high temperature dual injection"
which has been scaled by multiple companies for commercial applications that require
large quantities (hundreds of kilograms to tonnes) of quantum dots. This is a
reproducible production method that can be applied to a wide range of quantum dot
sizes and compositions.

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The bonding in certain cadmium-free quantum dots, such as III-V-based quantum dots,
is more covalent than that in II-VI materials, therefore it is more difficult to separate
nanoparticle nucleation and growth via a high temperature dual injection synthesis. An
alternative method of quantum dot synthesis, the molecular seeding process, provides
a reproducible route to the production of high quality quantum dots in large volumes.
The process utilizes identical molecules of a molecular cluster compound as the
nucleation sites for nanoparticle growth, thus avoiding the need for a high temperature
injection step. Particle growth is maintained by the periodic addition of precursors at
moderate temperatures until the desired particle size is reached. The molecular seeding
process is not limited to the production of cadmium-free quantum dots; for example, the
process can be used to synthesise kilogram batches of high quality II-VI quantum dots
in just a few hours.

Applications
Quantum dots have found use in the following applications:

Achieving attractive colors in stained glasses is the oldest application

Composite applications

Production of laser diodes with low temperature sensitivity and/or very low
threshold pump power

In white light-emitting diodes (LEDs): quantum dots emit green and red light
when excited with a blue or near-ultraviolet LED, thus achieving overall a white
color tone

In semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs)

As absorbers with very low saturation fluence

It is possible to contain quantum dot absorbers in a glass matrix

As single-photon emitters in the perspective of quantum nanophotonics and

quantum cryptography

As components of solar cells (Gratzel cells) and highly sensitive photodetectors

As fluorescent biological labels in the biological field

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Computing
Quantum dot technology is one of the most promising candidates for use in solid-state
quantum computation. By applying small voltages to the leads, the flow of electrons
through the quantum dot can be controlled and thereby precise measurements of the
spin and other properties therein can be made. With several entangled quantum dots, or
qubits, plus a way of performing operations, quantum calculations and the computers
that would perform them might be possible.
Biology
In modern biological analysis, various kinds of organic dyes are used. However, with
each passing year, more flexibility is being required of these dyes, and the traditional
dyes are often unable to meet the expectations. To this end, quantum dots have quickly
filled in the role, being found to be superior to traditional organic dyes on several counts,
one of the most immediately obvious being brightness (owing to the high extinction coefficient combined with a comparable quantum yield to fluorescent dyes) as well as their
stability (allowing much less photobleaching). It has been estimated that quantum dots
are 20 times brighter and 100 times more stable than traditional fluorescent reporters.
For single-particle tracking, the irregular blinking of quantum dots is a minor drawback.
The usage of quantum dots for highly sensitive cellular imaging has seen major
advances over the past decade. The improved photostability of quantum dots, for
example, allows the acquisition of many consecutive focal-plane images that can be
reconstructed into a high-resolution three-dimensional image. Another application that
takes advantage of the extraordinary photostability of quantum dot probes is the realtime tracking of molecules and cells over extended periods of time. Antibodies,
streptavidin, peptides, DNA, nucleic acid aptamers, or small-molecule ligands can be
used to target quantum dots to specific proteins on cells. Researchers were able to
observe quantum dots in lymph nodes of mice for more than 4 months.
Semiconductor quantum dots have also been employed for in vitro imaging of prelabeled cells. The ability to image single-cell migration in real time is expected to be
important to several research areas such as embryogenesis, cancer metastasis, stem
cell therapeutics, and lymphocyte immunology.
Scientists have proven that quantum dots are dramatically better than existing methods
for delivering a gene-silencing tool, known as siRNA, into cells.
Photovoltaic devices
Quantum dots may be able to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of today's
typical silicon photovoltaic cells. According to an experimental proof from 2004,
quantum dots of lead selenide can produce more than one exciton from one high

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energy photon via the process of carrier multiplication or multiple exciton generation
(MEG). This compares favorably to today's photovoltaic cells which can only manage
one exciton per high-energy photon, with high kinetic energy carriers losing their energy
as heat. Quantum dot photovoltaics would theoretically be cheaper to manufacture, as
they can be made "using simple chemical reactions."
Light emitting devices
There are several inquiries into using quantum dots as light-emitting diodes to make
displays and other light sources, such as "QD-LED" displays, and "QD-WLED" (White
LED). In June 2006, QD Vision announced technical success in making a proof-ofconcept quantum dot display and show a bright emission in the visible and near infrared region of the spectrum. Quantum dots are valued for displays, because they emit
light in very specific gaussian distributions. This can result in a display that more
accurately renders the colors that the human eye can perceive. Quantum dots also
require very little power since they are not color filtered. Additionally, since the discovery
of "white-light emitting" QD, general solid-state lighting applications appear closer than
ever. A color liquid crystal display (LCD), for example, is usually backlit by fluorescent
lamps (CCFLs) or conventional white LEDs that are color filtered to produce red, green,
and blue pixels. A better solution is using a conventional blue-emitting LED as light
source and converting part of the emitted light into pure green and red light by the
appropriate quantum dots placed in front of the blue LED. This type of white light as
backlight of an LCD panel allows for the best color gamut at lower cost than a RGB LED
combination using three LEDs.
Quantum dot displays that intrinsically produce monochromatic light can be more
efficient, since more of the light produced reaches the eye.QD-LEDs can be fabricated
on a silicon substrate, which allows integration of light sources onto silicon-based
integrated circuits or microelectromechanical systems. A QD-LED integrated at a
scanning microscopy tip was used to demonstrate fluorescence near-field scanning
optical microscopy (NSOM) imaging.
Photodetector devices
Quantum dot photodetectors (QDPs) can be fabricated either via solution-processing, or
from conventional single-crystalline semiconductors. Conventional single-crystalline
semiconductor QDPs are precluded from integration with flexible organic electronics
due to the incompatibility of their growth conditions with the process windows required
by organic semiconductors. On the other hand, solution-processed QDPs can be readily
integrated with an almost infinite variety of substrates, and also postprocessed atop
other integrated circuits. Such colloidal QDPs have potential applications in
surveillance, machine vision, industrial inspection, spectroscopy, and fluorescent
biomedical imaging.
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Companies

Founded by scientists from Manchester University, Nanoco Technologies Ltd is

one of a few companies worldwide that can produce relatively large quantities of
quantum dots and to not use regulated heavy metals. Technologies developed by
these companies demonstrate the range of practical applications for quantum
dots in, for example, clothing dyes and ultra-thin television screens. They are
also being studied as agents for medical imaging and for the next generation of
computers, which could rely on quantum computing.
QD Vision, Inc. is a nanomaterials product company delivering advanced display
and lighting solutions that provide unparalleled color and cost savings. The
company is focused on improving the color quality of TVs and other displays and
has spent years developing its Color IQTM technology to deliver color performance
that achieves 100 percent of the NTSC standard.
Nanosys is leading the development of quantum dot technology for displays.
Since their founding in 2001, they have partnered with leading display makers in
creating standout tablets, TVs and smartphones that are thinner, lighter, brighter
and more colorful than ever before.

Summary and Conclusion

Quantum dots are tiny particles of a semiconductor material (usually based on cadmium
or zinc) ranging from 2 to 10 nanometres (about 50 atoms) across. Owing to their size
they have very different properties compared with larger pieces of the same material, as
predicted by quantum theory.
Sometimes referred to as artificial atoms, quantum dots could find a wide range of uses.
They can be tuned to release photons - light particles - of different colours from infrared
or ultraviolet wavelengths, or even to release them one photon at a time. They have
unusual electronic and optical properties too.
Outside of medical applications, quantum dots can be used to make the display on your
phone look sharper. Since quantum dots can better display colors perceptible to the
human eye and require very little power, they may soon be replacing the most
commonly used screens today and may even surpass the new OLED display used in
some of todays most pixel-dense smartphones. In fact, quantum dot displays are
already being used today in the Kindle Fire HDX and are rumored to be a possibility in
the iPhone 6.

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As if we hadnt covered enough already, quantum dots are being considered as a main
candidate for the fabled qubit, or the quantum version of a computer bit. Due to the
quantum physical properties displayed by quantum dots, they may be the perfect
material to perform the necessary functions and behave in the right manner to serve as
the building block of the quantum computer, a technology that, once developed, may
revolutionize the speed and manner in which computers function.

The list of fields that quantum dots can revolutionize goes on and on. They can lead to
the creation of greatly improved and substantially cheaper cameras, they can be used
to create batteries with better storing capacity and insane charging speeds, they can
even be used to create more powerful and accurate lasers! Whatever advancements
revolutionize the way we live over the next decade, whatever needs we have to solve
new problems and overcome new obstacles in the way of our advancement, and
whatever new theoretical developments may arise, quantum dots may provide the
answers and solutions as this revolutionary field is delved deeper into and researchers
begin to realize how much potential lies in quantum dots.
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