  We develop a temperature dependent empirical pseudopotential theory to study
the electronic and optical properties of self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) at
finite temperature. The theory takes the effects of both lattice expansion and
lattice vibration into account. We apply the theory to the InAs/GaAs QDs. For
the unstrained InAs/GaAs heterostructure, the conduction band offset increases
whereas the valence band offset decreases with increasing of the temperature,
and there is a type-I to type-II transition at approximately 135 K. Yet, for
InAs/GaAs QDs, the holes are still localized in the QDs even at room
temperature, because the large lattice mismatch between InAs and GaAs greatly
enhances the valence band offset. The single particle energy levels in the QDs
show strong temperature dependence due to the change of confinement potentials.
Because of the changes of the band offsets, the electron wave functions
confined in QDs increase by about 1 - 5%, whereas the hole wave functions
decrease by about 30 - 40% when the temperature increases from 0 to 300 K. The
calculated recombination energies of exciton, biexciton and charged excitons
show red shifts with increasing of the temperature, which are in excellent
agreement with available experimental data.
