Saturation of light-current characteristics of high-power laser diodes (λ = 1.0–1.8 μm) under pulse operation

Spectral and light-current characteristics of separate-confinement lasers that are based on InAl-GaAs/InP and InGaAsP/InP alloys and emit in the wavelength range of 1.5–1.8 μm are studied at high excitation levels (up to 80 kA/cm²) in pulse operation (100 ns, 10 kHz). It is shown that the peak intensity in the stimulated-emission spectrum saturates as the pump current is increased. Further increase in the emitted power is attained owing to the emission-spectrum broadening to shorter wavelengths, similar to lasers on the GaAs substrates (λ = 1.04 μm). It is established experimentally that the broadening of the stimulated-emission spectrum to shorter wavelengths is caused by an increase in the threshold current and by an increase in the charge-carrier concentration in the active region. This concentration increases by a factor of 6–7 beyond the lasing threshold and can be as high as 10¹⁹ cm^?3 in pulse operation. It is shown that saturation of the light-current characteristics in pulse operation takes place in the InAlGaAs/InP and InGaAsP/InP lasers as the pump current is increased. It is shown experimentally that there is a correlation between saturation of the light-current characteristic and an increase in the threshold current in the active region. An increase in the charge-carrier concentration and gradual filling of the active region and waveguide layers with electrons are observed as the pump current is increased; stimulated emission from the waveguide is observed at high pump currents.     

Si- and Mg-implanted InP,GaInAs and short-time proximity cap annealing

Si- and Mg-ions with energies of 180 keV have been implanted into semi-insulating InP substrates and low doped n- and p-type GalnAs epitaxial layers (3 · l0¹⁶cm⁻³). Sheet resistances and doping profiles are analyzed and compared with LSS theory. Post-implantation annealing is studied with respect to encapsulation, time and temperature. We have tested as new encapsulation techniques for InP the simple proximity cap annealing and for GalnAs the As-doped spun-on SiO₂. Proximity cap annealing yields decomposition-free surfaces when using a recessed capsubstrate. At annealing temperatures of around 800 °C less activation is obtained than with conventional PSG annealing and a surface accumulation of charge-carriers is established. A time limit of around 3 min is found for Si- and Mg-implanted InP, beyond which the sheet resistance no longer decreases and the doping saturates. For Si in InP, short-time annealing yields to a 68 % activation of carriers, not significantly higher than with conventional long-time annealing. In the case of Si in GalnAs, however, short-time annealing is much more effective. A 100 % activation is obtained for a dose of 2.10¹⁴ cm⁻², while only 7 % is found for long annealing. Even at such a high dose of 1. 10¹⁶cm⁻² we have achieved about an order of magnitude higher activation with short annealing than with long annealing. Most information contained in this paper was presented at the 1984 Electron Materials Conference as paper L-l.     

Impurity-induced disordering of AIGalnAs quantum wells by low temperature Zn diffusion

We investigated impurity-induced disordering (IID) in AIGalnAs multi-quantum wells (MQWs) on InP substrate by Zn diffusion under low temperature conditions. Blue-shift of band-gap energy of lattice-matched AIGalnAs MQW on InP strongly depended on the temperature of Zn diffusion. The lattice-matched MQW was not completely disordered below 500°C. On the other hand, photoluminescence spectra from compressively strained AIGalnAs MQW, after disordering was independent of the temperature of Zn diffusion. Considerable disordering was observed in the strained MQW, which was saturated even at the low temperature of 400°C. The measured hole concentration of the Zn diffused layer at 400°C was as low as 3 × l0¹⁸cm⁻³ The IID lasers were also fabricated and characterized. No significant increase in the optical loss due to the Zn diffusion was observed in these lasers. On leave from Toshiba Co., Japan.     

Low resistance ohmic contacts to n- and p-InP

The contact properties of various metal combinations, deposited by vacuum evaporation on InP, were studied. Among these metal combinations, Au/Ge + Ni and Au/Zn proved to be most suitable. The former on n-InP (n = 8 × 10¹⁷/cm³) and the latter on p-InP (p = 9 × 10¹⁷/cm³) exhibited specific contact resistances as low as 1.2 × 10^?6 and 1.1 × 10^?4 Ωcm², respectively. The specific contact resistances were analyzed using a four-point method which also accounts for the spreading resistance. Furthermore, the resistances of metal contacts to InP were calculated as a function of doping concentration and were compared with the experimental results. The described contacting technique was successfully applied to the preparation of quaternary lasers.     

High-power diode lasers (λ = 1.7–1.8 µm) based on asymmetric quantum-well separate-confinement InGaAsP/InP heterostructures

Advantages of the concept of high-powered semiconductor nanoheterostructure lasers for the spectral range 1700–1800 nm, grown by MOCVD in the InGaAsP/InP solid solution system, have been experimentally demonstrated. It has been found that using an expanded waveguide enables reduction to 2 cm^?1 of the internal optical loss in quantum-well asymmetric separate-confinement double InGaAsP/InP heterostructures emitting at a wavelength of 1.76 µm. The heterostructures developed have been used to create multimode lasers with a room-temperature CW output power of 2.5 W in an aperture of 100 µm. It is shown that use of highly stressed quantum-well InGaAs layers as the active region makes it possible to obtain characteristic temperatures T ₀ = 50–60 K.     

Low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of InP and related compounds

The low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition epitaxial growth and characterization of InP, Ga_0.47In_0.53 As and Ga_xIn_1-xAs_yP_1-y, lattice-matched to InP substrate are described. The layers were found to have the same etch pit density (EPD) as the substrate. The best mobility obtained for InP was 5300 cm² V⁻¹S⁻¹ at 300 K and 58 900 cm² V⁻¹ S⁻¹ at 77₂K, and for GaInAs was 11900 cm² V⁻¹ S⁻¹ at 300 K, 54 600 cm² V⁻¹ S⁻¹ at 77 K and 90 000 cm V⁻¹S⁻¹ at 2°K. We report the first successful growth of a GaInAs-InP superlattice and the enhanced mobility of a two dimensional electron gas at a GaInAs -InP heterojunction grown by LP-MO CVD. LP MO CVD material has been used for GaInAsPInP, DH lasers emitting at 1.3 um and 1.5 um. These devices exhibit a low threshold current, a slightly higher than liquid phase epitaxy devices and a high differential quantum efficiency of 60%. Fundamental transverse mode oscillation has been achieved up to a power outpout of 10 mW. Threshold currents as low as 200 mA dc have been measured for devices with a stripe width of 9 um and a cavity length of 300 um for emission at 1.5 um. Values of T in the range 64–80 C have been obtained. Preliminary life testing has been carried out at room temperature on a few laser diodes (λ = 1.5μm). Operation at constant current for severalthousand hours has been achieved with no change in the threshold current.     

Field screening in (111)B InAsP/lnP strained quantum wells

Low-temperature photoluminescence measurements were performed on InAsP/InP strained quantum wells grown on InP (lll)B substrates by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy. The emission energy was observed to increase as the pump-power density increased. This was attributed to the screening of the internal piezoelectric field by photo-generated carriers. The energy shift was as large as 35 meV for an InAs_0.28P_0.72/InP quantum well with a lattice mismatch of ~0.9%. A similar structure with a smaller strain showed saturation of the energy shift with increasing pump-power density. We performed a model calculation which includes the quantum confined Stark effect, and this saturation was correlated with a flat-band structure of the quantum well due to the nearly complete screening of the built-in electric field.     

Optical quality GaInAs grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Ga₄₇In₅₃As films have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on InP substrates. The unintentionally doped material has a free electron concentration of 8 × 10¹⁵cm^-3 and exhibits sharp (~5 meV linewidth) exciton recombination in the 4K photoluminescence. The films were grown on (100) InP surfaces which were thermally cleaned in the arsenic beam. The effects of the substrate temperature during growth, the Ga to In flux ratio and the group V to group III flux ratio on the 4K photoluminescence are reported.     

Study on microscopic defects in Fe-Doped InP single crystals

Effect of crystal growth conditions on the density of microscopic defects, observed on polished Fe-doped InP LEC single crystal wafers, has been investigated by an interference contrast microscope and a laser scattering tomography (LST) system. It was found that microscopic defects have no correlation with dislocations. Crystal rotation speed affects the density of microscopic defects. In addition, the density depends on the time that the InP melt is held in the molten state before crystal growth. On the other hand, it was found that the H₂O concentration in B₂O₃ has no correlation with the generation of microscopic defects. The relationship between the microscopic defects and the stoichiometry of grown crystals was investigated by coulometric titration analysis. Since the density of microscopic defects is reduced as the indium concentration decreases, it is speculated that their origin is indium or indium oxide.     

Study on the diffusion of Cd and Zn IN InP

 The study on the diffusion of Cd and Zn in InP at a temperature range of 450—700℃ and their compared results are described in this paper.The effects of various impurity sources,such as Cd and Zn as well as their compounds on the results of diffusion are investigated intensively.Using X_j~2/t ratio defined by the square of the diffusion depth X_j~2 and time t as a measure of the diffusion velocity,we show the plots of X_j~2/t vs temperature T.It is found that the diffusion velocity of Cd, especially CdP_2 diffusion sources is slower and thus easier to control the diffusion depth and concentration.However they are more ideal diffusion impurity sources.We explain the complication phenomena of Cd-and Zn-diffusion in InP with neutral complex presented by Tien(1979).     

MBE Growth of lattice-matched ZnCdMgSe quaternaries and ZnCdMgSe/ZnCdSe quantum wells on InP substrates

We report the growth and characterization of a new wide bandgap II-VI alloy, Zn_xCd_yMg_1-x-ySe, grown lattice-matched to InP. High quality quaternary layers with bandgaps ranging from 2.4 to 3.1 eV were grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The bandgaps and lattice constants were measured using photoluminescence and single crystal Θ-2Θ scans. Quantum well structures with quaternary barriers and ZnCdSe wells were also grown, entirely lattice matched to InP. Their photoluminescence properties suggest that these materials are suitable for the design of visible semiconductor lasers spanning the blue, green, and yellow regions of the visible range. The absence of strain in these heterostructures is expected to improve the reliability of the materials in device applications.     

外电场作用下InP电子结构与光学性质的计算

磷化铟(InP)已成为光电器件和微电子器件不可或缺的重要半导体材料。采用基于密度泛函理论框架下的第一性原理平面波赝势方法,计算了不同外电场作用下InP超胞的电子结构和光学性质。计算结果表明:未加电场时InP的能隙值为0.876eV,随着z轴方向的外电场增大,该值逐渐减小,当电场强度达到1.0×10⁸V/cm时,InP的禁带宽度几乎为0。InP导带区域的总态密度随着外电场增大逐渐向费米面偏移,态密度跨度变小,而价带与导带的情况恰恰相反。外电场对介电函数虚部的影响主要体现在低能量区域(0~7eV),而在较高能量区域内可忽略不计。外电场对InP吸收系数的影响主要集中在近红外波段。     

InP-on-CdS thin film heterostructures

Thin films of InP were deposited on single crystals and thin films of CdS by the planar reactive deposition technique. Good local epitaxy was observed on single crystals of CdS as well as InP and GaAs. The electrical evaluation of unintentionally doped films on semi-insulating InP substrates show them to be n-type with room temperature electron concentrations ranging from 5 × 1016 cm⁻³ to 5 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³ and mobilities up to 1350 cm²/Vsec. For films intentionally doped with Mn and Be, p-type films were obtained. For Mn doping (deep acceptor level), room temperature mobilities as high as 140 cm²/Vsec and free carrier concentrations as low as 5 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻³ (with dopant level of 3 × 10¹⁸ cm⁻³) were obtained. For Bedoped films, free carrier concentrations of about 5 × 10¹⁸ cm⁻³ and mobilities of 20 cm²/Vsec were found. Scanning electron microscope and microprobe pictures show appreciable interdiffusion between the InP/CdS thin-film pair for InP deposited at 450°C. The loss of Cd from the CdS and the presence of an indium-cadmium-sulfur phase at the InP/CdS interface were observed. Interdiffusion is alleviated for InP deposition at lower temperatures. Supported in part by ERDA and AFOSR.     

The growth of low dislocation densityp-lnP single crystals

High qualityp-type InP is critical for devices ranging from high power injection lasers to space-based solar cells. The growth of 50 mm diameter, low defect density,p-type, Zn:InP substrates has been achieved for the first time at doping levels below 10¹⁸ cm⁻³. The 600 gram 〈111〉 B-seeded crystals were grown by the vertical dynamic gradient freeze technique. Dislocation densities are more than an order of magnitude below those achieved in comparable LEC-growth material. These range from 300 cm⁻² at the seed end to 1200 cm⁻² in the 50 mm diameter portion of the crystal. Single crystals were grown with carrier concentrations ranging from 1–5 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³ as determined by Hall measurements. Hole mobilities as high as 100 cm² volt⁻¹ sec⁻¹ were achieved. The in-corporation of the zinc dopant follows normal freezing and a distribution coefficient of 0.67 ± .09 was determined. Infrared transmission imaging shows a lower level of stria-tion contrast relative to that observed for sulfur doped InP.     

Control of low fe content in the preparation of semi-insulating InP by wafer annealing

A reproducible technique for preparing semi-insulating (SI) InP by high temperature annealing can only be achieved by controlled doping with Fe in a sufficient concentration for compensation. However, a successful and reproducible method to adjust the low Fe content has not been developed up to now. In this paper, we report two different experimental approaches to control the Fe content by using either precompensated starting material or an Fe source for doping via the vapor phase. InP wafers (2′ diam) which were lightly predoped with Fe ([Fe] < 5 × 10¹⁵ cm⁻³) during liquid encapsulated Czochralski (LEC) growth were converted from the semiconducting to the SI state and were subsequently analyzed by laterally resolved resistivity measurements. These wafers show high resistivity uniformity (p ≈1 × 10⁸ Ω-cm) which has never previously been achieved with LEC material at such a low Fe concentration. Furthermore, we present the first results of annealing nominally undoped InP with a defined Fe source.     

Tertiarybutylarsine and tertiarybutylphosphine for the MOCVD growth of low threshold 1.55 μm InxGa1-xAs/InP quantum-well lasers

Tertiarybutylarsine (TBA) and teriarybutylphosphine (TBP) are liquid organometallic sources that are a safer alternative to arsine and phosphine. In this work, we have grown high-quality In_0.53Ga_0.47As/InP quantum wells at a temperature of 590° with TBA and TBP partial pressures of 0.4 and 2.5 Torr, respectively. A low-temperature photoluminescence study indicated optimized column V growth interruption times of 0.5 s for In_0.53Ga_0.47As wells with InP barriers. Using the optimized growth conditions, we have obtained lattice matched In_0.53Ga_0.47As/In_xGa_1-xAs_yP_1-x single quantum-well lasers emitting at 1.55 μm. Broad-area devices with a length of 3.5 mm exhibit a low threshold current density of 220A/cm². Broad-area lasers containing four quantum wells had a threshold current density of 300A/cm² for a 3.0 mm cavity length and CW powers of 40 mW per facet for an as-cleaved 4 × 750 μm device.     

Low pressure MOCVD growth of buried heterostructure laser wafers using high quality semi-insulating InP

Semi-insulating Fe doped InP has been grown by low pressure MOCVD at 100 mbar and 630° C. Complete activation of Fe below the solubility limit of 5 × 10₁₆ cm^-3 has been achieved by reducing the PH₃ concentration during crystal growth to the lowest value required to maintain good surface morphology of the layer. Diffusion of the Fe dopant and dopant spikes at the interface between the substrate and grown layer can be minimized by ensuring that the total Fe concentration in the layer does not exceed the diffusion threshold of 2 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³. Growth of Fe doped InP around a double heterostructure mesa formed by reactive ion etching produces a structure without either growth of InP on the mesa or notches at the mesa sidewalls, even with minimal overhang of the dielectric mask. Examination of regrown heterostructures shows no evidence of interdiffusion of Fe and Zn, indicating that Fe diffusion has been successfully prevented. Completed lasers have threshold current densities of 2.5 kA/cm² at 20° C and initial aging results which indicate that these devices have good lasing characteristics and potentially high reliability.     

Tellurium induced lattice dilation in OMVPE grown InP

For organometallic vapor phase epitaxial (OMVPE) grown InP, the change in lattice constant is measured as a function of tellurium (Te) dopant concentration. We observe ~0.15% dilation in the InP lattice constant at a Te concentration of ~10²⁰ cm^-3. Our measurements are compared to predictions from Vegard’s Law.     

The generation of point defects in GaAs by electron-hole recombination at dislocations

The degradation of GaAs heterojunction lasers results in the formation of long dislocation dipoles which grow by a climb process involving point defect concentrations of the order of 10¹⁹ cm⁻³. The driving force for this climb process is not understood and it has been suggested that the material contains a supersaturation of native interstitials which condense on the dislocation during device operation. An alternative model proposed that the driving force is related to the energy released by electron-hole recombination on the dislocation which is partially dissipated by the dislocation emitting vacancies into the surrounding lattice.Gallium arsenide substrates containing greater than 2 × 10¹⁸ tellurium atoms cm⁻³ contain interstitial concentrations of the order of 10¹⁷ cm⁻³ which condense out to form small dislocation loops during an anneal at 880°C. The presence of these loops indicates that the annealed material does not contain excess interstitials in solution. This annealed material was optically pumped and examined by transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the loops developed into dipoles typical of degraded lasers. The number of point defects involved in this climb process increased with increasing pumping power and time. These results are discussed in terms of the two mechanisms listed above and it is concluded that the energy released by electron-hole recombination at the dislocation provides the driving force for the climb process.     

Degradation of InGaAs/InP single heterojunction bipolar transistors under high energy electron irradiation

The d.c. characteristics of InGaAs/InP single heterojunction bipolar transistors (SHBTs) were studied for the first time under high energy (1 MeV) electron radiation of cumulative dose up to 5.4×10¹⁵ electrons/cm². No degradation was observed for electron doses below 10¹⁵/cm². For electron doses greater than 10¹⁵/cm² the following degradation effects were observed: (1) decrease in collector current; (2) decrease in current gain up to 50%; (3) an increase in collector saturation voltage by 0.2–0.8 V depending on base current; and (4) increase in output conductance. The degradation of collector current and current gain are thought to be due to increased recombination caused by radiation-induced defects in the base–emitter junction. The increase in collector saturation voltage is attributed to an increase in emitter contact resistance after irradiation. The increase in the avalanche multiplication in the reverse biased base–collector junction caused by radiation induced defects is believed to be responsible for increased output conductance after irradiation.