IMPROVEMENT OF GAAS ALGAAS QUANTUM-WELL LASER-DIODES BY RAPID THERMALANNEALING/

Post-growth annealing is shown to improve the laser diode quality of G aAs/AlGaAs graded-index separate confinement heterostructure quantum w ell laser diode structures grown at a nonoptimal substrate temperature lower than 680 degrees C by molecular beam epitaxy. Reduction by a fa ctor of up to three in the threshold current was accompanied by a redu ction in the interface trap density. The reduced threshold current is still higher than that of laser diodes grown at the optimal temperatur es which are between 680 and 695 degrees C. The improvement in laser d iode performance is ascribed to the reduction of interface nonradiativ e recombination centers.