MODELING TEMPERATURE EFFECTS AND SPATIAL HOLE-BURNING TO OPTIMIZE VERTICAL-CAVITY SURFACE-EMITTING LASER PERFORMANCE

Two-dimensional physical models for single-mode index guided vertical- cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL's) are developed and compared wi th experimental measurements on state-of-the-art devices. Starting wit h the steady-state electron and photon rate equations, the model calcu lates the above threshold light-current (LI) characteristics. Included are temperature effects, spatial hole burning effects, carrier diffus ion, surface recombination, and an estimation of optical losses. The m odel shows that the saturation of output power in the experimental dev ices is due to carrier leakage over the heterojunction and not simply the shifting of the gain peak relative to the cavity mode. Using the v erified model new designs are analyzed, showing that output powers gre ater than 15 mW and power efficiencies above 20% should be achievable with existing processing technology.