Determination of the dopant ion location in doped semiconductor nanocrystals resulting from a lattice self-purification process
by Rutherford, Michael R.; Peng, Xiaogang
Strategically doping semiconducting nanocrystals with small amts. of transition meal ions enables one to finely tune their optical properties. Doped semiconducting nanocrystals (d-dots), specifically Mn2+ doped ZnSe, have shown a lattice self-purifn. phenomenon. In order to reliably and finely tune the properties of d-dot emitters, this self-purifn. phenomenon needs to be well understood. Our work effectively maps this lattice diffusion and lattice ejection process to show the relationship of these processes to the resulting optical properties of the nanocrystal. A custom built in-situ photoluminescence spectrometer coupled with systematic layer by layer elemental anal. yields a high resoln. description of this lattice self-purifn. process along with diffusion expressions describing this behavior which will aid in future strategic doping of nanocrystals.