CHEMICAL BEAM EPITAXIAL-GROWTH OF GAINAS(P)/INP HETEROSTRUCTURES FOR LASER APPLICATIONS

GaInAs(P) heterostructures for 1.55 mum lasers were grown by chemical beam epitaxy on InP substrates using In-free mounting. Lattice matched epilayers with excellent vertical homogeneity in composition are obtained when the rise in radiation absorption in the growing GaInAs(P) layers is compensated by ramping the thermocouple setting to lower temperature. InGaAs/GaInAsP MQW structures grown at temperatures around 538-degrees-C show high luminescence yields, especially at room temperature; broad area SCH lasers fabricated from these structures (5 QWs) show threshold currents of 130 mA for cavity lengths of 300 mum. The threshold current density extrapolated from cavity lengths between 300 and 1200 mum is 600 A/CM2.