Abstract
In this dissertation, we report the development of high performance 1.3- and 1.5-mm laser diode arrays which are shown to present the possibility of suitable applications in the next generation of computing and switching systems. The growth of the AlGaInAs epitaxyer lattice matched to InP using low-pressure organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (LP-OMVPE) technique was investigated first. The effects of the growth conditions on the crystal quality and the laser structure on the device performance were studied. Based on these well-established results, the high uniform 12-element 1.5 and 1.3-mm ridge-waveguide AlGaInAs/InP laser diode arrays were fabricated with excellent device performance. The devices exhibited a highly reliable and uniform characteristics, and good performance of laser element in low threshold current, high characteristic temperature, low slope efficiency drop, high temperature operation, low crosstalk, and large modulation bandwidth. In order to improve the laser diode arrays performance, the effects of high-reflectivity facet coating on 1.3 and 1.5-mm AlGaInAs/InP lasers were also evaluated. System results, such as increasing maximum operation temperature, increasing characteristic temperature, decreasing threshold current and decreasing slope-efficiency drop by increasing the facet reflectivity, were present. On the other hand, the aluminum-contained lasers have a concern problem for the degradation of active region by aluminum oxidation. We took a reliability tests including the screening test and accelerated aging based on the technical advisory of Bellcore's TA-NWT-000893 to estimate life time of these AlGaInAs/InP lasers. The median life will exceed 249 years for the lasers operating at 10mW and 250C. On the other hand, we also developed the multiple wavelengths GaInAsP/InP laser arrays by selective area organometallic vapor phase epitaxy technique. The lasing wavelength, threshold current and slope efficiency can be tuned by the variation geometry of SiO2 mask. Since wide band-gap energy can be simply controlled in one epitaxial growth step, it is possible to monolithically integrate two different devices on same wafer.