Ultra-High speed InGaAsP/InP DFB lasers emitting at 1.3 µm wavelength

A bandwidth of 13 GHz has been attained in a 1.3 μm DFB laser at 25 °C. A mesa structure was introduced to reduce the parasitic capacitance and the lasing wavelength was detuned from the gain peak to increase the differential gain. This bandwidth is the widest so far reported in 1.3 μm DFB lasers.     

1.5 µm range InGaAsP/InP distributed feedback lasers

Lasing characteristics of InGaAsP/InP distributed feedback (DFB) lasers in the 1.5 μm range were studied theoretically and experimentally. Wave propagation in five-layer DFB waveguides were analyzed to estimate the effect of the structural parameters on threshold conditions. A brief consideration on designing a low threshold laser and its lasing wavelength was made. DFB buried heterostructure lasers with fundamental grating emitting at 1.53 μm were prepared by liquid phase epitaxial techniques. CW operation was confirmed in the temperature rangeof -20° to 58°C, and a CW threshold current was as low as 50 mA at room temperature. A stable single longitudinal mode operation was observed both in dc condition and in modulated condition by a pseudorandom pulse current at 500 Mbits/s. No significant increase in the threshold current was observed after 1400 h continuous CW operation at 20°C.     

Reliability in InGaAsP/InP buried heterostructure 1.3 µm lasers

A study was conducted of aging-induced Sn whisker growth at the surface of Au-Sn bonding solder layers around a laser chip, as well as metallurgical reactions, especially in p-side down lasers, at the interface of the solder and laser crystal just below the active layer. These phenomena cause electrical shorts in InGaAsP/InP laser diodes, which occur suddenly in devices operated for long periods without any previous symptoms having appeared in their aging characteristics. To completely eliminate such failures, a novel assembling method in which chips were mounted p-side up on semiinsulating SiC submounts using Pb-Sn solder, was applied to InGaAsP/InP buried heterostructure (BH) lasers emitting at 1.3 μm. BH lasers assembled by this method do not suffer any shorting failure even after 8000 h operation under 60°C and 5 mW/facet output conditions. The small degradation rates obtained, for example, 3 percent/kh (median) at 60°C, certify the reliability of these improved lasers. As long as the stripe width of the active layer was optimized to be in the range of1.5-2.5 mum necessary for obtaining kink-free light output versus current properties, no detrimental changes in laser characteristics, including transverse and longitudinal modes and dynamic output response, were observed in aged lasers. In this paper, the long-term degradation modes observed are presented, and possible causes are discussed.     

Characteristics of diffused-stripe InP/InGaAsP/InP lasers emitting around 1.55 µm

Fabrication and lasing characteristics of InGaAsP/InP lasers emitting around 1.55 μm are described. Zn-diffused stripe-geometry lasers with emission wavelengths in the1.53-1.60mum range were fabricated from InP/InGaAsP/InP DH epitaxial wafers prepared by a low temperature LPE technique. The dependence of the lasing charaeteristics on the stripe width was examined. The lowest threshold current (≃160 mA under CW operation at 27°C) was obtained for a laser with a 13 μm stripe. CW operation of the laser has been achieved at a heat-sink temperature as high as 53°C. For sufficiently narrow stripe widths (simeq6 mum), fundamental-transverse mode and single-longitudinal mode operation was obtained under CW operation. Moreover, the lasers have good high-frequency performance. The lasers showed excellent dynamic properties without waveform distortion under high-frequency (800 Mbits/s) large-signal pulse modulation. The full width at half maximum of the longitudinal mode envelope was approximately 30 Å at 800 Mbits/s.     

InGaAs/InP p-i-n photodiodes for lightwave communications at the 0.95-1.65 µm wavelength

We summarize our work on back-illuminated photodiodes based on the As-Ga-In-P III-V semiconductor system which, with InP substrates, can provide photodetectors to cover the wavelength range of0.93-1.65 mum. LPE layer growth and material purification techniques are described, as well as the fabrication and characterization of p-i-n photodiodes made from these compounds. The relevant device parameters and their optimization are discussed, and the performance of high-bit-rate optical receivers employing the new detectors is noted. Finally, we suggest some areas where further research might lead both to a better understanding of carrier transport in these heterojunction configurations and to improved devices made from them.     

1.5-µm λ/4-shifted InGaAsP/InP DFB lasers

A single wavelength light source in 1.5-μm range was developed using InGaAsP/InPlambda/4-shifted distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor heterostructures. Superiority of thelambda/4-shifted DFB structure in terms of stability of the main mode at the Bragg wavelength was shown theoretically, in which the threshold, the output, and the polarization characteristics were taken into account. Alambda/4-shifted corrugated grating was made by a newly developed negative and positive photoresists technique. Buried heterostructure (BH) diode lasers with nonreflective window ends were fabricated and highly stable single-mode operation with a low threshold was obtained reproducibly. Direct modulation properties and life-tests results indicated that thelambda/4-shifted DFB lasers could be a reliable single-mode light source in a long span lightwave transmission system in 1.5-μm range.     

InGaAsP/InP buried crescent laser diode emitting at 1.3 µm wavelength

The fabrication procedure, designing of an active region and a p-n-p-n current blocking structure, characteristics and the aging results of an InGaAsP/InP buried crescent (BC) laser diode are described. The BC laser diodes exhibit high laser performances, such as a low-threshold current, a fundamental transverse mode oscillation with linear light output-current characteristics. CW operation at as high as 100°C is achieved with a junction up configuration as a result of the improvement in the current blocking structure. A stable CW operation at 80°C has been realized with a constant optical output power of 5 mW.     

V-grooved substrate buried heterostructure InGaAsP/InP laser emitting at 1.3 µm wavelength

Details of the fabrication, optimization of the dimensions of the active region, characteristics, and the aging results of theV- grooved substrate buried heterostructure (VSB) InGaAsP/InP laser are described. It is shown that the VSB laser can be fabricated in one-step epitaxy as well as two-step epitaxy. The active region width below 2.5 μm and the thickness of0.15-0.2 mum are shown to give stable fundamental mode operation and good temperature characteristics. The fundamental mode operation up to the optical output of 20 mW/facet at 25°C and the CW operation above 100°C are obtained. The pulse response showed the strongly damped relaxation oscillation with a frequency as high as 4.5 GHz. The spectral width under the modulation of 400 Mbit/s RZ single is as narrow as 25 Å in full width at half maximum. Highly stable aging characteristics at an elevated temperature of 50°C are obtained in both two-step epitaxy lasers and one-step epitaxy lasers.     

1.6 µm wavelength GaInAsP/InP lasers prepared by two-phase solution technique

Reduction of the threshold current of GaInAsP lasers with an antimeltback layer was studied in the wavelength range1.50-1.65 mun. The two-phase solution growth technique was applied using a relatively low temperature and a slow cooling rate of 0.17°C/min to reduce the active layer thickness. The antimeltback layer with a bandgap wavelength of 1.35 μm resulted in a flat active layer and eliminated the melt-back problem completely. From experiments and calculations we found that both the carrier and the optical confinement of this structure, having an antimeltback layer, were almost the same as those for the conventional InP cladding structure. A threshold eurrent density as low as 1.2 kA/cm²and an active layer thickness of 0.20μm were obtained at these wavelengths. The lattice-match condition of low-temperature growth was studied. In the low-temperature growth, the longer wavelength lasers were grown with the same amount of InAs.J_{th}/dwas independent of the growth condition (T_{S}, T_{G}) and had a value of 5-6 kA/cm². μm.     

Temperature dependence of threshold current in (GaAl)as double-heterostructure lasers with emission wavelengths of 0.74-0.9µm

The threshold-current variation with temperature has been measured for Ga1-xAlxAs double-heterostructure (DH) lasers with AlAs mole fraction in the active layerxof 0.08 and 0.2, and with several heterojunction step heightsDeltax. The threshold-temperature coefficient Jth(350 K)/Jth(300 K), which generally increases with decreasingDeltax, is found to be larger forx = 0.2than that forx = 0.08at the same value ofDeltax, and also to be larger for the lasers with smaller effective electron diffusion length in thePcladding layer, in the case ofx = 0.2. These characteristics are well explained by a model of carrier leakage due to unconfined carriers in the active layer. It is confirmed by a good fit of the experimental results with the calculated values that the electron leakage in theGammaconduction band of thePcladding layer dominates forx leq 0.1, but the hole leakage in theNcladding layer increases withxand becomes comparable in magnitude with the electron leakage atx sim 0.2.     

InGaAsP/InP separated multiclad layer stripe geometry laser emitting at 1.5 µm wavelength

We have developed an InGaAsP/InP separated multiclad layer (SML) stripe geometry laser emitting at 1.5 μm wavelength. In this laser, the optical confinement is done by the effective refractive index step owing to the formation of the coupled waveguide outside the stripe region. The current confinement is done by the p-n-p-n structure outside the stripe region. The CW threshold current at 25 °C is only 82 mA for the stripe width and the cavity length of 6 μm and 250 μm, respectively. The maximum temperature where the CW lasing is obtained is 65°C. The characteristic temperature of the threshold current is 60 K. The transverse mode is fundamental up to 1.8 times the threshold. Ten samples are operated at 50°C with constant optical output of 5 mW/facet. These samples are still operating at over 10 000 h with a slight increase in the driving current. The appreciable change in the characteristics due to aging is not observed.     

High speed response InGaAsP/InP DH LED's in the 1 µm wavelength region

The frequency response of a fiber-coupled LED with a small diameter contact has been studied. It has been shown that the current spreading occurring at the contact edge causes an appreciable response speed reduction. However, this was found to be eliminated by a monolithic lens formed on the LED surface, which can make only the light generated at the center of the contact coupled into a fiber. This technique was successfully applied to fabricate high speed InGaAsP/ InP DH LED's at wavelengths of 1.15 µm, 1.3 µm, and 1.5 µm. The 1.3 µm LED's exhibited the -1.5 dB cutoff frequency of 80 MHz, typically at 100 mA current without reduction of the coupled power.     

Distributed feedback InGaAsP/InP lasers with window region emitting at 1.5 µm range

Distributed feedback (DFB) InGaAsP/InP lasers with a window region formed at an end of the corrugated DFB region were made in order to overcome the problems inherent in the previous structures of DFB lasers with cleaved, sawed, etched, or AR-coated facets, or with an unexcited corrugation region. The window structure DFB lasers showed linear current versus output (I-L) curves, in contrast to those with a hysteresis or a kink appearing in a DFB laser with an unexcited region. Suppression of Fabry-Perot (F-P) resonances due to the two facets were sufficient enough to keep a single longitudinal mode property by DFB up to high excitation level. CW operation up to 65°C was achieved at the 1.5 μm wavelength range. Axial modes concerning the corrugated resonator were measured at about the threshold current. A stop band of a DFB laser was clearly observed with two dominant modes and much smaller submodes, which almost agreed with the axial modes predicted from a basic DFB theory.     

Reliability of high radiance InGaAsP/InP LED́s operating in the 1.2-1.3 µm wavelength

The reliability of high radiance InGaAsP/InP DH LED's operating in the1.2-1.3 mum wavelength and the defect structures observed in this quaternary alloy have been presented. Threading dislocations and misfit dislocations do not act as strong nonradiative recombination centers, in contrast with the case in GaAs or GaAlAs optical devices. Dark-spot defects (DSD's) were sometimes generated in the emitting area during aging at elevated temperatures. These defects were analyzed microscopically using a transmission electron microscope and were identified as precipitates. To investigate the homogeneous degradation, accelerated aging at the ambient temperatures of 20, 60, 120, 170, 200, and 230°C has been carried out for over 15 000 h at the current density of 8 kA/cm²using LED's without dark structures. The degradation rates were statistically calculated by assuming the normal distribution. The mean values of degradation rates and the values of standard deviation were determined at the temperatures above 170°C. The activation energy of homogeneous degradation was determined to be 1.0 eV and the extrapolated half-life in excess of 10⁹h was estimated at the ambient temperature of 60°C.     

InGaAsP/InP photodiodes: Microplasma-limited avalanche multiplication at 1-1.3-µm wavelength

Photodiodes for use in the1-1.3-mum wavelength region have been fabricated from double-heterostructure InGaAsP/InP wafers grown by liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE). The measured avalanche multiplication in mesa-configuration devices was limited to values of 10 or less. The results of careful measurement of the photoresponse, quantum efficiency, and reverse-biasI-Vcharacteristics suggest that the gain is limited by microplasma breakdown. The density of microplasmas was estimated to be about 10⁶cm^-2, approximately equal to the etch pit density of the InP substrates used in growth of the epitaxial layers.     

Temperature characteristics of double-carrier-confinement (DCC) heterojunction InGaAsP(λ = 1.3 µm)/InP lasers

This paper reports on a detailed study of the oscillation characteristics of double-carrier-confinement (DCC) heterojunction InGaAsP(lambda = 1.3 mum)/InP lasers, with special emphasis on their temperature characteristics. In addition to conventional double-heterojunction lasers, these lasers have a p-InGaAsP second active layer sandwiched between the p-InP clad layers. The spectral characteristics below threshold were examined in order to verify electron leakage beyond the hetero-barrier of the p-InP thin clad layer, and to study the contribution of the second active layer to optical gain and laser action. Threshold temperature characteristics were also investigated through an analysis of the heterojunction energy band structure. The results indicate that emission from the second active layer is caused by electron leakage. In order to obtain high temperature stability for these lasers, it is essential that both the first and second active layers contribute to the optical gain spectrum and laser action.     

Extremely low threshold current 1.52 ?m InGaAsP/InP MS-DFB lasers with second-order grating

Threshold currents of 1.52 ?m InGaAsP/InPGaAsP/InP DFB lasers with second-order gratings have been reduced to 12 mA in single-longitudinal-mode operation. External differential efficiencies exceed 25%/feet with a ?/4 Si3N4 coating on the front facet.     

Single-mode operation of 1.3 µm InGaAsP/InP buried crescent lasers using a short external optical cavity

Highly single longitudinal mode operation of 1.3 μm InGaAsP/InP buried crescent lasers has been obtained using a60-600 mum long external cavity defined by a spherical mirror. The intensity of the neighboring modes was suppressed by a factor of 1200 for dc excitation and by a factor of 800 for combined dc and 250 MHz current modulation.