High-performance 980-nm quantum-well lasers using a hybrid material system of an Al-free InGaAs-InGaAsP active region and AlGaAs cladding layers grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

• Published in: IEEE journal of quantum electronics 1999-10, Vol.35 (10), p.1535-1541
• Main Authors: Yang, G.W., Hwu, R.J., Xu, Z.T., Ma, X.Y.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aluminum; Aluminum gallium arsenides; Cladding; Density; Devices; Epitaxial growth; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Holes; Laser modes; Lasers; Optical design; Optical device fabrication; Optical materials; Optics; Physics; Power generation; Quantum well lasers; Quantum wells; Semiconductor lasers; laser diodes; Surface emitting lasers; Surface morphology; Threshold current
• ISSN: 0018-9197; 1558-1713
• DOI: 10.1109/3.792590

We report on the material growth and fabrication of high-performance 980-nm strained quantum-well lasers employing a hybrid material system consisting of an Al-free InGaAs-InGaAsP active region and AlGaAs cladding layers. The use of AlGaAs cladding instead of InGaP provides potential advantages in flexibility of laser design, simple epitaxial growth, and improvement of surface morphology and laser performance. The as-grown InGaAs-InGaAsP(1.6 eV)-AlGaAs(1.95 eV) lasers achieve a low threshold current density of 150 A/cm/sup 2/ (at a cavity length of 1500 /spl mu/m), internal quantum efficiency of /spl sim/95%, and low internal loss of 1.8 cm/sup -1/. Both broad-area and ridge-waveguide laser devices are fabricated. For 100-/spl mu/m-wide stripe lasers with a cavity length of 800 /spl mu/m, a slope efficiency of 1.05 W/A and a characteristic temperature coefficient (T/sub 0/) of 230 K are achieved. The lifetime test demonstrates a reliable performance. The comparison with our fabricated InGaAs-InGaAsP(1.6 eV)-AlGaAs(1.87 eV) lasers and Al-free InGaAs-InGaAsP (1.6 eV)-InGaP lasers are also given and discussed. The selective etching between AlGaAs and InGaAsP is successfully used for the formation of a ridge-waveguide structure. For 4-/spl mu/m-wide ridge-waveguide laser devices, a maximum output power of 350 mW is achieved. The fundamental mode output power can be up to 190 mW with a slope efficiency as high as 0.94 W/A.