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arXiv · 2505.22419

Structural Hole Traps in III-V Quantum Dots

Ezra Alexander·Alexandra Alexiu·Matthias Kick·Troy Van Voorhis
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Abstract

Non-toxic III-V quantum dots (QDs) are plagued with a higher density of performance-limiting trap states than II-VI and IV-VI QDs. Such trap states are generally understood to arise from under-coordinated atoms on the QD surface. Here, we present computational evidence for, and an exploration of, trap states in InP and GaP QDs that arise from fully-coordinated atoms with distorted geometries, denoted here as structural traps. In particular, we focus on the properties of anion-centered hole traps, which we show to be relatively insensitive to the choice of the (typically cation-coordinating) ligand. Through interpolation of trap center cutouts, we arrive at a simple molecular orbital (MO) argument for the existence of structural traps, finding two main modalities: bond stretches and angular distortion to a see-saw-like geometry. These structural trap states will be important for understanding the low performance of III-V QDs, as even core-shell passivation may not remove these defects unless they can rigidify the structure. Moreover, they may lead to interesting dynamical properties as distorted structures could form transiently.

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Ezra Alexander, Alexandra Alexiu, Matthias Kick, Troy Van Voorhis. 2025-05-28. Structural Hole Traps in III-V Quantum Dots. https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.22419

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