Hello,

After some searching on the web, I agree that it is quite difficult to find literature of quantum dots for non-experts. Some what simple webpage I found is this:

http://www.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnano.nchc.org.tw%2Fdictio...

which is translated from a chinese webpage: http://nano.nchc.org.tw/dictionary/quantum_dots.html

If you want a lecture, I found this:

https://www.nanohub.org/resources/189/

Come back to your comments:

1. Yes, it is difficult to visualize quantum dots, I hope you have more idea after the reading above. In fact, it is more appropriate to say quantum dots are zero-dimension objects. (1d would be called quantum wire)

2. The size affect indirectly the color of a quantum dot. To explain, when you say "color", I suppose you mean the electromagnetic radiation (photons) coming out from a quantum dot.

Due to the quantum confinement (the fact that electrons are trapped in a small region):

2.a The energy of the quantum dots is quantized, in the sense that if we are to measure the energy of a quantum dot, then we get discrete values, called energy levels. (It is wrong to say that the QDs can have discrete energy. This is somewhat too technical, I know)

2.b The smaller the size, the wider the energy level spacing, and hence the higher frequency (towards blue color) light would be emitted

The fact that you get different answers from different people is natural. Because different people have different understanding of quantum dots for different purposes. There is no actual answer if the scenarios is not clearly defined. For example, there are different ways to make quantum dots.

For me, as a theorist, I pay more attention to the basic idea of the quantum dots (physical reason etc.), instead of the fabrication part of it.

I hope my comments and the references above could help you a bit.