Spatially selective hydrogen irradiation of dilute nitride semiconductors: A brief review

We provide a brief survey of the most recent results obtained by performing spatially selective hydrogen irradiation of dilute nitride semiconductors. The striking effects of the formation of stable N-H complexes in these compounds - coupled to the ultrasharp diffusion profile of H therein - can be exploited to tailor the structural (lattice constant) and optoelectronic (energy gap, refractive index, electron effective mass) properties of the material in the growth plane, with a spatial resolution of a few nm. This can be applied to the fabrication of site-controlled quantum dots (QDs) and wires, but also to the realization of the optical elements required for the on-chip manipulation and routing of qubits in fully integrated photonic circuits. The fabricated QDs - which have shown the ability to emit single photons - can also be deterministically coupled with photonic crystal microcavities, proving their inherent suitability to act as integrated light sources in complex nanophotonic devices.