Ultra-compact, high-yield intra-cavity contacts for GaAs/AlGaAs-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Abstract

Evaluating the continuous-wave performance of AlGaInP-based red (667 nm) vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers using low-temperature and high-pressure techniques Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 865 (2001); 10.1063/1.1342049 Ultrafast (GaIn)(NAs)/GaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser for the 1.3 μ m wavelength regime Dependence of lateral oxidation rate on thickness of AlAs layer of interest as a current aperture in vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser structures Low threshold vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers based on high contrast distributed Bragg reflectors A novel method of fabricating compact intra-cavity contacts with high yield for GaAs/AlGaAs-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers is presented. By carefully tailoring the composition of highaluminum content layer, a highly selective Al 2 O 3 etch-stop layer can be formed simultaneously with the oxide aperture during wet thermal oxidation. With this technique, contact metals can be uniformly deposited on deeply embedded contact layers over large substrate areas. Utilizing this embedded etch-stop design, dual intra-cavity contacted three-terminal vertical-cavity surfaceemitting lasers were fabricated, demonstrating submilliampere threshold currents, over 54% differential quantum efficiencies and over 9 mW output powers.