LARGE-SCALE METALORGANIC CHEMICAL-VAPOR-DEPOSITION GROWTH OF HIGHLY RELIABLE 780 NM ALGAAS MULTIPLE-QUANTUM-WELL HIGH-POWER LASERS

Successful large-scale (twelve 2 inch diameter wafers/run) metalorgani c chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth of AlGaAs multiple quantum well (MQW) structure for 780 nm high-power lasers using a barrel-shape d reactor is demonstrated. Excellent uniformity of growth rate (+/-3.5 %) and Al content (+/-0.3%) for an Al0.48Ga0.52As layer within a 2 inc h diameter wafer has been obtained. Very accurate layer thickness cont rol down to 1 nm has also been realized for AlGaAs well layer. Applica tion of this technique to 780 nm AlGaAs MQW high power laser diodes re alized excellent uniformity of the laser characteristics. The uniformi ty of the beam divergency to the junction plane (phi(perpendicular-to) ), lasing wavelength and threshold current were 27 +/- 1-degrees, 785 +/- 3 nm and 48 +/- 7 mA, respectively. In addition, it is shown that the reduction of the oxygen concentration in the laser crystal below 1 x10(17) cm-3 is essential to obtain low threshold current with good re producibility. Stable operation of the laser diodes for more than 1000 h has been also confirmed even at accelerating condition of 60-degree s-C, 50 mW.