Semiconductor lasers fabricated by selective area epitaxy

For the first time, semiconductor lasers grown entirely by selective area epitaxy are reported. The lasers were formed by in situ processing techniques and metal organic molecular beam epitaxy (MOMBE). A 50 AA thick layer of Si deposited on the InP substrate was used as a mask for both the selective growth and etching. Laser stripes, 6 mu m wide, were delineated by a focused Ga ion beam and transferred into the substrate by Cl₂ etching. These steps were performed in the vacuum chambers attached to the MBE machine. Separate confinement heterostructure GaInAsP-InP lasers were grown selectively in the stripes. The resulting devices emit at 1.3 mu m and show threshold currents of 40 mA.