Effect of growth conditions and strain compensation on indium incorporation for diode lasers emitting above 1050 nm

Diode lasers with an emission wavelength of up to 1150 nm have been grown b y metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE). For the growth of the highly st rained InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells low growth temperatures are found favorabl e to suppress defect formation. An incorporation of GaAsP strain compensati ng layers reduces indium carry-over effects but the defect formation in the InGaAs quantum well starts at lower indium content. At high TMIn/(TMIn + T MGa) ratio in the vapor phase no temperature dependence of indium incorpora tion efficiency was obtained. Broad-area (1 mm long. 100 mum wide) diode la sers using such QWs in GaAs waveguide and AlGaAs cladding layers show very low threshold current densities (jth = 93 A/cm(2) at 1102 nm and jth = 85 A /cm(2) at 1152 nm). Ridge-waveguide diode lasers (750 mum long. 3 mum wide) with a low threshold current of 9 mA and an efficiency of more than 90% we re fabricated. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.