Native-oxide-confined mid-IR quantum cascade lasers via non-selective oxygen-enhanced wet oxidation

Christopher S. Seibert; Mithin D'Souza; Jae C. Shin; Luke J. Mawst; Dan Botez; Douglas C. Hall

doi:10.1117/12.809788

3 February 2009 Native-oxide-confined mid-IR quantum cascade lasers via non-selective oxygen-enhanced wet oxidation

Christopher S. Seibert, Mithin D'Souza, Jae C. Shin, Luke J. Mawst, Dan Botez, Douglas C. Hall

Proceedings Volume 7230, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers VIII; 72301O (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.809788
Event: SPIE OPTO: Integrated Optoelectronic Devices, 2009, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

In this work, a novel self-aligned process utilizing non-selective, O₂-enhanced wet thermal oxidation is presented for fabricating InP-based, ridge waveguide mid-infrared (λ=5.4 μm) quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) with a straincompensated, 30-stage (1.53 μm thick) InGaAs/AlInAs active region, grown via metal organic chemical vapor deposition. This process, previously used in GaAs-based diode lasers containing low-Al content AlGaAs or even Alfree III-As alloys, forms a highly-insulating native oxide layer while simultaneously smoothing and passivating the etchexposed active region, resulting in low-loss, strongly-confining waveguides. Here we report the first application of this process for directly oxidizing the deeply-etched QCL InGaAs/AlInAs active region ridge waveguide sidewalls and field (outside the ridge), eliminating the need for a deposited dielectric for electrical isolation, thus allowing self-aligned device fabrication. An 8 hour, 500 °C wet oxidation with 7000 ppm added O₂ (relative to N2 carrier gas) yields a uniform oxide of ~350 nm in the field outside the ridge to ~500 nm on the ridge sidewall. Laser devices tested under room temperature, pulsed excitation exhibit a threshold current density of J_th~3.2 kA/cm² for a 19.5 μm wide x 3 mm long stripe width.

Citation Download Citation

Christopher S. Seibert, Mithin D'Souza, Jae C. Shin, Luke J. Mawst, Dan Botez, and Douglas C. Hall "Native-oxide-confined mid-IR quantum cascade lasers via non-selective oxygen-enhanced wet oxidation", Proc. SPIE 7230, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers VIII, 72301O (3 February 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.809788

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