GHz bandwidth GaAs light-emitting diodes

Double-heterostructure GaAs/GaAlAs light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been fabricated with the emitter regions beryllium doped to 2 X 10(19) and 7 X 10(19) cm(-3). The 7 X 10(19) cm(-3) doped emitters have an internal quantum efficiency of 10% and an optical modulation bandwidth of 1.7 GHz. The steady-state optical output power versus the input current shows an external efficiency of 2.5 mu W/mA. The 2 X 10(19) cm(-3) emitters have internal quantum efficiencies as high as 80%, but a reduced cutoff frequency. The external quantum efficiency reaches 10 mu W/mA. These high-speed LEDs are produced by reducing the radiative lifetime to 100-250 ps without significantly degrading internal quantum efficiency. The current results on heavily beryllium-doped LEDs exhibit, to the best of our knowledge, the highest external efficiencies to date for such high doping and efficiencies close to that observed for lower-doped LEDs. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)03621-9].