The strain introduced at the junction of two mismatched semiconductors resh
apes the valence band reducing the density of states. This effect has been
successfully exploited to get quantum well (QW) lasers of III-V compounds.
In the present study, a ternary system CdxZn1-xTe on ZnTe substrate has bee
n investigated. The effect of x on critical thickness, effective mass, band
gap, optical gain and current density has been calculated. This system was
chosen as it is useful in blue emission, emission at high temperature, etc
. The optical gain increases with x, whereas current density decreases. The
laser cavity length and number of QWs have been optimized for different x
and temperatures for a given gain. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All right
s reserved.