Initial age-related degradation mechanisms for InAs quantum dot lasers grown on silicon substrates emitting at 1.3 µm are investigated. The rate of degradation is observed to increase for devices operated at higher carrier densities and is therefore dependent on gain requirement or cavity length. While carrier localization in quantum dots minimizes degradation, an increase in the number of defects in the early stages of aging can increase the internal optical-loss that can initiate rapid degradation of laser performance due to the rise in threshold carrier density. Population of the two-dimensional states is considered the major factor for determining the rate of degradation, which can be significant for lasers requiring high threshold carrier densities. This is demonstrated by operating lasers of different cavity lengths with a constant current and measuring the change in threshold current at regular intervals. A segmented-contact device, which can be used to measure the modal absorption and also operate as a laser, is used to determine how the internal optical-loss changes in the early stages of degradation. Structures grown on silicon show an increase in internal optical loss, whereas the same structure grown on GaAs shows no signs of increase in internal optical loss when operated under the same conditions.

Stripped-back representative VCSEL devices with a simple fabrication process that very closely approaches the performance of standard BCB-planarised devices have been produced. These VCSEL Quick Fabrication (VQF) devices achieve threshold currents only 0.3 mA higher than that of a standard device produced from the same material. The predictability of standard performance from VQF performance is also robustly assessed in terms of temperature effects to account for the observed disparities. These VQF devices are then processed across a 6-inch (152 mm) wafer and the resulting device-level characteristics are mapped. From this, it is apparent that there is an approximately radial decrease in oxide aperture diameter from centre to edge, found to be driven by the strain-induced wafer bow. After corrections, a residual spatial variation across the wafer remains, which, in conjunction with temperature dependent measurements, is shown to be a result of epi-material variation. By observation at 50 °C, that is, at a temperature closely resembling that of intended application, the residual centre-to-edge variation in threshold current density is found to be only 0.2 kA/cm 2 , compared to 1.3 kA/cm 2 when observing the room temperature variation of devices of nominally equivalent active volumes.

The quantum confined Stark effect in InAs/InGaAs QDs using an undoped and p-modulation doped active region was investigated. Doping potentially offers more than a 3x increase in figure of merit modulator performance up to 100 °C.

t q ratio and the variation in transport mobility with carrier density cannot be explained by reasonable levels of background impurities or well width fluctuations. Thus, there is at least one additional scattering mechanism unaccounted for, most likely arising from structural defects.

We report a theoretical study of InGaAs/AlAs triple barrier resonant tunneling heterostructures, which are optimized for operation in the terahertz frequency range, and compare these to current state-of-the-art double barrier structures reported in the literature. We consider the effect of strain introduced due to the large lattice mismatch between the substrate, quantum well, and potential barrier materials and describe designs with strain compensated active regions. Constraints have been imposed on the designs to minimize charge accumulation in the emitter quantum well, which is often associated with more complex triple barrier structures. The use of a triple barrier structure suppresses the off-resonance leakage current, thus increasing the maximum output power density, with ≈3 mWµm −2 predicted at 1 THz. The use of thinner potential barriers also reduces the carrier transit time through the structure, which increases the maximum output frequency, predicted to be ≥4 THz for optimized structures.