Fabrication, characterization and analysis of low threshold current density 1.55-μm-strained quantum-well lasers

Tertiarybutylarsine and tertiarybutylphosphine are less hazardous alternatives to arsine and phosphine as group V sources for crystal growth of In_xGa_1-xAs_yP_1-y alloys by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Compressive and tensile-strained quantum-well lasers emitting at 1.55 μm have been fabricated using these sources. Threshold current density as low as 93 A/cm², transparency current density as low as 38 A/cm² and internal efficiency of 91% were obtained for 1.5% compressive-strained single quantum-well lasers. These devices represent the best lasers emitting at this wavelength that have been reported in the literature. An analysis of some of the characteristics of these devices such as transparency current, differential gain and nonradiative recombination is also presented in this paper