Realistic model of a vertical pillar quantum dot: Analysis of individual dot data

An accurate model of a vertical pillar quantum dot is described. The full three-dimensional structure of the device containing the dot is taken into account and this leads to an effective two-dimensional model in which electrons move in the two lateral dimensions, the confinement is parabolic, and the interaction potential is very different from the bare Coulomb potential. The potentials are found from the device structure and a few adjustable parameters. Numerically stable calculation procedures for the interaction potential are detailed and procedures for deriving parameter values from experimental addition energy and chemical potential data are described. The model is able to explain magnetic-field-dependent addition energy and chemical potential data for an individual dot to an accuracy of about 5%, the accuracy level needed to determine ground-state quantum numbers from experimental transport data. Applications to excited state transport data are also described.