DEEP ETCHED ZNSE-BASED NANOSTRUCTURES FOR FUTURE OPTOELECTRONIC APPLICATIONS

By electron beam lithography and a subsequent wet/dry etch process, op tically active nanostructures are developed based on ZnSe with lateral extensions down to 35 nm. Dry etching using Ar+ ions is found to gene rate very smooth etch surfaces, while the photoluminescence efficiency of narrow wires is much higher in wet chemically etched structures. A s a first application of deep etched nanostructures, index coupled dis tributed feedback laser structures of second order are realized with p eriods down to 185 nm on the base of (Cd, Zn)Se/ZnSe/(Mg, Zn)(Se, S) v ertical waveguide heterostructures. A clear correlation between the re sonator period and the emission wavelength is observed, indicating a h igh coupling coefficient of the structures. For optical pumping using a pulsed N-2-laser, the laser threshold at room temperature is about 1 00 kW/cm(2).