Etched facet lasers are important components to realize laser arrays and optical integrated circuits (OEICs), in which reduction of the processing complexity is one of the key issues. We found that C2H5Cl gas-phase etching produces a vertical etched facet along the [0-1 1] direction in GaAs and AlGaAs. The vertical etching with the velocity of 2.5 to 1.6 micrometer/hour is obtained in GaAs and Al0.5Ga0.5As, respectively, with the C2H5Cl gas-phase etching at 680 degrees Celsius along a SiO2 mask parallel to the [0-1 1] direction. The angle of the facets is 85 degrees, which is not affected with the aluminum concentration. (111)B facets reveal along the [0-1 -1] direction. This gas-phase etching technique is combined with MOCVD regrowth to realize a BH AlGaAs/GaAs laser with etched facets and optical coating. The entire etched side walls, i.e. vertically etched facets and (111)B side walls along the laser stripes are immediately embedded with regrown AlGaAs in the same process chamber by switching an etching gas to metal organic sources. Conventional processing steps to fabricate an etched facet BH laser are comprised of initial etching for waveguide definition, regrowth to form BH structure, dry etching or cleaving for facet formation and facet coating. This in-situ gas-phase etching and regrowth technique reduces such 4 processing steps into gas manipulation inside of the same growth furnace and greatly reduces the processing cost of OEICs.
The present states of the vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (SELDs) in Japan conducted by the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd., Seiko-Epson Corp. and Electrotechnical Lab. are outlined. Most of the lasers use the semiconductive distributed Bragg reflector and buried heterostructure (BH) either for the active region or whole optical cavity. Combination of the SELD and thyristor by NEC Corp. for the optical functional device was also introduced. Lateral injection SELDs will be another choice for the multiple quantum well structure and reduction of the series resistance. Regrowth and processing techniques developed in Japan which may be applicable for the more optimized design of SELDs are also discussed.
Conference Committee Involvement (3)
Testing and Reliability of Optelectronic Devices
26 January 2001 | San Jose, CA, United States
Testing, Packaging, and Reliability of Semiconductors Lasers V
26 January 2000 | San Jose, CA, United States
Testing, Packaging, and Reliability of Semiconductor Lasers IV
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