Growth and characterization of MO/VPE double-heterojunction lasers

Metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy (MO/VPE) used for the growth and fabrication of double-heterojunction (DH) devices is examined. (Al, Ga)As/GaAs DH mesa stripe lasers were made with a high threshold current density attributed to recombination losses at killer centers in the confinement layers close to the active layer. The MO/VPE technique was used for burying mesa lasers, with the threshold current density of an LPE mesa buried with monocrystalline (Al, Ga)As 60 percent higher than its corresponding broad-area value. It is shown that to reduce the excess current, the recombination velocity at the VPE/LPE active-layer interfaces should be reduced to a value below the diffusion velocity of carriers towards these interfaces. The optical mode structure of the buried mesa lasers was stable up to a power output of 10 mW/facet.