Title :
Scanning voltage microscopy on buried heterostructure multiquantum-well lasers: identification of a diode current leakage path
Author :
Ban, Dayan ; Sargent, E.H. ; Dixon-Warren, St.J. ; Letal, Greg ; Hinzer, Karin ; White, J. Kenton ; Knight, D. Gordon
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Toronto, Ont., Canada
Abstract :
We report scanning voltage microscopy (SVM) results on actively driven buried heterostructure (BH) multiquantum-well (MQW) lasers that exhibit current blocking failure at high current injection operation. The measured two-dimensional image of local voltage distribution delineates the buried structures of the BH laser. The results, in combination with light-current-voltage (L-I-V) measurements, connect macroscopic external performance to measurements on the nanometer scale. Our experimental results suggest that the current blocking breakdown observed in the MQW BH lasers correlates with the turn-on of a diode leakage path when the devices are biased at high current injection.
Keywords :
atomic force microscopy; fault diagnosis; leakage currents; quantum well lasers; semiconductor device breakdown; semiconductor quantum wells; atomic force microscopy; buried heterostructure multiquantum-well lasers; current blocking failure; diode current leakage path; fault diagnosis; high current injection operation; light-current-voltage measurements; local voltage distribution; macroscopic external performance; scanning voltage microscopy; semiconductor device breakdown; semiconductor lasers; two-dimensional image; Carrier confinement; Electric breakdown; Laser modes; Leakage current; Microscopy; Quantum well devices; Semiconductor diodes; Semiconductor lasers; Support vector machines; Voltage;
Journal_Title :
Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JQE.2003.821539
