Optical recombination from excited states in Ge/Si self-assembled quantum dots

We have investigated the photoluminescence of single and multiple layers of Ge/Si self-assembled quantum dots as a function of the excitation power density. We show that the photoluminescence of the quantum dots is strongly dependent on the pump excitation power. The photoluminescence broadens and is blueshifted by as much as 80 meV as the power excitation density increases. Meanwhile, the photoluminescence associated with the two-dimensional wetting layers exhibits only a weak dependence on the pump excitation power. This significant blueshift is interpreted in terms of state filling and recombination from the confined excited hole states in the dots. The photoluminescence data are correlated to the density of states as calculated by solving the three-dimensional Schrödinger equation in these islands with a lateral size of the order of 100 nm.