GaAs/AlGaAs Diode Lasers on Monolithic GaAs/Si Substrates

ABSTRACTOne approach to the development of optical interconnects between Si systems utilizes diode lasers fabricated in III-V epitaxial layers grown on Si wafers. We have fabricated double-heterostructure lasers in GaAs/AlGaAs layers grown on a Ge-coated Si substrate, and both asymmetric largeoptical- cavity (LOC) lasers and graded-index, separate-confinement heterostructure (GRIN-SCH) lasers in such layers grown directly on a Si substrate. The GaAs/AlGaAs layers were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (100) p-Si substrates. Si and Be were used as the n- and p-type dopants, respectively. Oxide-defined stripe-geometry devices, 300 μm long, were fabricated using standard AuSn and CrAu metallizations for the n- and ptype contacts, respectively. The laser facets were formed by ion-beamassisted etching. The double-heterostructure devices (8 μm stripe width), in which the active region contained about 10 mole percent AlAs, were evaluated using pulsed bias at 77 K. They produced power outputs up to 3.3 mW per facet and exhibited thresholds as low as 170 mA. The LOC devices (4 μm stripe width), which had a GaAs active region, were characterized using pulsed bias at 300 K. These devices produced power outputs up to 27 mW per facet. The lowest threshold was 775 mA. The GRIN-SCH devices (4 μm stripe width), which incorporated a 70 Å GaAs quantum well active layer, were also characterized using pulsed bias at 300 K. These devices were not operated at power outputs above −5 mW. Their lowest threshold was 220 mA.