Effect of bismuth surfactant on the structural, morphological and optical properties of self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy on GaAs (001) substrates

•The structural, morphological and optical properties of self-assembled In0.5Ga0.5As QDs grown by Moleculra Beam Epitaxy on GaAs substrates at various growth temperatures with and without exposure to bismuth (Bi) flux have been investigated.•Atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence (PL) measurements were analysed.•The PL intensity from QDs was enhanced by 1.2 times by introducing Bi as a surfactant as compared to InGaAs/GaAs control sample grown without Bi.•A red-shift of the PL peak energy of about 40 meV was also observed when the InGaAs QDs were grown by using Bi evidencing that Bi surfactant affects considerably the size of QDs.•The QDs grown with Bi surfactant exhibited a higher degree of size uniformity as demonstrated by the observation of narrower FWHM (Full-Width at half Maximum) of the PL peaks•The growth temperature of 495 °C was found to be optimal in terms of optical efficiency. In this work, we have investigated the effect of Bi surfactant on structural, morphological and optical properties of 5 monolayers self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots (QDs) grown on GaAs (001) substrates at various growth temperatures (435, 467 and 495 °C) by Molecular Beam Epitaxy. Two types of InGaAs QDs samples grown with and without exposure to bismuth were studied using Atomic Force Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy and Photoluminescence (PL). Our results have demonstrated that Bi-mediated growth provides improved control of several properties of InGaAs QDs including an enhancement of the QD PL peak intensity by 1.7 times as compared to InGaAs/GaAs control sample grown without Bi. In addition, a red-shift of the PL peak energy of about 40 meV was also observed when the InGaAs QDs were grown by using Bi evidencing that Bi surfactant affects considerably the size of QDs. Furthermore, the QDs grown with Bi surfactant exhibited a higher degree of size uniformity as demonstrated by the observation of narrower Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) of the PL peaks. We have also shown that both Bi surfactant and substrate temperature play an important role to control the density of InGaAs QDs. The QD density decreased from 8.9 × 1010 cm−2 (control sample) to 2.0 × 1010 cm−2 for the sample grown at the lowest temperature of 435 °C under Bi flux. All these approaches to control and improve the properties of self-assembled QDs are important for device applications that re