DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF RIDGE WAVE-GUIDE FOLDED-CAVITY INPLANE SURFACE-EMITTING LASERS

A 45-degrees angled reactive ion etching combined with in situ monitoring technique was used to fabricate ridge waveguide folded-cavity in-plane surface-emitting lasers. This laser structure, with two 45-degrees angle-etched internal total-reflection mirrors and an epitaxially grown distributed Bragg reflector, is very promising for OEIC applications. Laser-structure design and laser fabrication will be addressed; results described record low continuous-wave threshold current, I(th) = 8 mA, was achieved on 3-mu-m wide, 350-mu-m long devices.