A buried-cap planar stripe (BCP) GaAlAs laser with ZnSe current-confinement region by MBE

A GaAlAs visible laser with a novel structure, called a buried-cap planar (BCP) stripe laser, has been developed. It has an epitaxial ZnSe semiinsulating layer grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on a cladding layer, leaving a narrow stripe for the current confinement. In this laser a reflective index waveguide is constructed by using a channeled substrate, and the current flow is confined by growing the semi-insulating ZnSe single crystal on the cladding layer after mesa etching the cap layer. There are many advantages in this structure: the diffusion process is not necessary, the current confinement is complete, and the thermal strains and misfit dislocations can be avoided. These advantages assure a highly reliable device performance, and a high-yield fabrication process.