Growth of vertical cavity surface emitting laser material on (3 1 1)B GaAs by MBE

• Published in: Journal of crystal growth 1997-05, Vol.175-176, p.365-371
• Main Authors: Mars, D.E., Rosner, S.J., Kaneko, Y., Nakagawa, S., Takeuchi, T., Yamada, N.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0022-0248; 1873-5002
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-0248(96)00882-2

We report on the growth of VCSEL structures on (3 1 1)B GaAs substrates. For the growth of AlGaAs and AlAs, the best morphology and material quality were obtained for growth temperatures > 650°C. Surface morphology and mirror reflectivity degraded significantly at low growth temperatures (< 600°C). From low-temperature photoluminescence (LTPL), we found a “forbidden” temperature range for the growth of InGaAs quantum well-active regions on (3 1 1)B substrates between 540 and 560°C. Active region growth temperatures in this range showed low intensity, broad LTPL, and poor laser characteristics. Cross-section TEM measurements show poor homogeneity for material grown in this temperature range. At higher temperatures (580°C), In desorption is greatly increased, so < 520°C was selected as the optimal growth temperature. Even with a non-optimized structure, the first reported VCSELs on (3 1 1)B were fabricated with a pulsed Jth = 9 kA/cm2 at − 40°C and 28 kA/cm2 at room temperature. At − 40°C, 10 nW of SHG blue light at 485 nm was detected under pulsed conditions, and 2 nW was detected under CW conditions and was visible to the naked eye. By improving the structure we obtained CW lasing at room temperature with 300 A/cm2 as a broad area laser and 1.4 kA/cm2 as a VCSEL. A maximum power of 0.55 nW at 490 nm was detected CW at room temperature.