Analysis of the characteristic temperatures of (Ga,In)(N,As)/GaAs laser diodes

Abstract

The characteristic temperatures of the threshold current density, T 0 , and external differential quantum efficiency, T 1 , of a series of (Ga,In)(N,As)/GaAs quantum well (QW) laser diodes are measured in the wavelength range from 1 to 1.5 µm. It is found that both T 0 and T 1 strongly decrease with increasing lasing wavelength. The origin of this degradation is shown to be, in the case of T 0 , mostly dominated by a decrease in the transparency current density characteristic temperature, an increase in the optical losses and a decrease in the modal gain. The degradation of T 1 is mainly due to the increase in the optical losses. The effective carrier recombination lifetime in the QW is shown to decrease from 1.2 to 0.2 ns with N content up to 2%, in good agreement with previous reports that link this low lifetime to non-radiative monomolecular recombination through defects in the QW. Carrier leakage is ruled out as the dominant process degrading T 0 and T 1 on the basis of the temperature dependence of the effective carrier recombination lifetime.

Experimental investigation and numerical modelling of photocurrent oscillations in lattice matched Ga1−xIn x N y As1−y/GaAs quantum well p-i-n photodiodes

“…Compared to the major industrial competitors, the InP-based devices, GaInNAs/GaAs has a higher conduction band (CB) offset, which provides good electron confinement [ 15 , 16 ]. For applications as lasers in the telecom wavelengths of 1.3 μm, typical composition of Ga 1− x In x N y As 1− y with x approximately 30% and y approximately 2% ensures also hole confinement, resulting in better temperature stability of the laser threshold current [ 17 ]. However, in applications as photodetectors and solar cells where the thickness of the dilute nitride layer has to be large for enhanced photon absorption, perfect lattice matching to GaAs is required and the relative In and N compositions have to be changed, usually in the ratio In:N equal to 3:1.…”