HIGH-PERFORMANCE DIFFUSION DISORDERED ALXGA1-XAS LASERS VIA A SELF-ALIGNED PROCESS AND CONVENTIONAL OPEN-TUBE ANNEALING

Process conditions for fabricating Si-O impurity-induced layer disorder defined AlxGa1-xAs-GaAs buried heterostructue quantum well lasers utilizing a fully self-aligned planar process and conventional As free open-tube-furnace annealing are presented. An SiO2 layer, deposited by sputtering, was used as a diffusion source for Si and O impurities as well as a source for Ga vacancies that enhance impurity diffusion and alloy for a reduction in the required annealing temperature and time. A self-aligned native oxide of the AlxGa1-xAs cladding layer was used to form a Zn diffusion mask and dielectric layer Lasers fabricated using this process exhibited threshold currents as low as 2.72 mA and external differential quantum efficiencies of 79% at room temperature in continuous operation.