Homogeneous and inhomogeneous linewidth broadening of single polar GaN/AlN quantum dots

We report on the dependence on temperature of the homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadening of the fundamental transition of single polar GaN/AlN quantum dots (QDs). Stranski-Krastanov QDs have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy using NH3 as a nitrogen source, with a very low surface density. Low temperature (LT) microphotoluminescence measurements have been performed on 200 nm wide mesas in order to isolate the luminescence of single QDs. The linewidth is found to vary from 590 mu eV at 4 K up to 1350 mu eV at 65 K in a dot of 6 monolayer height. Though the LT linewidth is still dominated by spectral diffusion, the temperature dependent broadening up to 50 K is mainly accounted for by interactions between excitons and acoustic phonons through a coupling coefficient value nearly two orders of magnitude larger than its counterpart in InAs QDs. (C) 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim