1.3-MU-M INASYP1-Y-INP STRAINED-LAYER QUANTUM-WELL LASER-DIODES GROWN BY METALORGANIC CHEMICAL-VAPOR-DEPOSITION

We report on the growth of InAsyP1-y-InP strained-layer quantum wells using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and the low threshold operation of novel 1.3 mum InAsyP1-y-InP strained-layer quantum-well laser diodes (SL-QW LD's) with separate-confinement heterostructure (SCH). Growth temperature has been investigated in terms of the crystal quality of a grown layer using full width at half maximum (FWHM) of low temperature (77 K) photoluminescence (PL). As a result, growth temperature around 550-degrees-C, which is lower than that of GaInAsP-InP (600-degrees-C), has been found to obtain good crystal quality. The critical thickness is determined to be about 30 nm from the PL and transmission electron microscopy measurements for the case of y = 0.55, corresponding to the amount strain of 1.77%. The FWHM of room temperature PL of the InAs0.55P0.45-InP strained-layer double-quantum-well (DQW) laser structure was as narrow as 30.1 meV, which is 3/4 of lattice matched 1.3 mum GaInAsP-InP quantum well, with a peak wavelength of 1.29 mum. The threshold current density of 0.41 kA/cm2 was obtained on 100 mum wide broad contact SL-DQW LD's with a cavity length of 900 mum. A very low threshold current of 1.8 mA was obtained in an all MOCVD grown 200 mum long buried heterostructure SCH-DQW LD with high reflective coating. The maximum CW operating temperature of 120-degrees-C was obtained with a low threshold current of 36 mA. The characteristic temperature was 62 K in the temperature range of 20 to 60-degrees-C. A very small turn-on delay time of 200 ps was measured for a 1.8 mA threshold LD when 30 mA modulation pulse current is applied without any bias.