We investigate the temperature and pressure dependence of a series of intrinsic and modulation p-doped InAs-based dot-in-well (DWELL) laser diodes grown on silicon substrates. Temperature dependence of the threshold current density (Jth) and pure spontaneous emission spectra provide an insight into inhomogeneity and non-radiative recombination mechanisms within the devices. Initial investigations showed that the intrinsic devices exhibited low temperature sensitivity in the range 170-200K. Above this, Jth increased more rapidly consistent with Auger recombination. P-doping increased the temperature at which Jth(T) started to increase up to 300K with a temperature insensitive region close to room temperature. P-doping delays the onset of carrier thermalization, leading to a high T0 but with an associated higher Jth. Temperature dependence of gain spectrum broadening was investigated by measuring the spontaneous emission spectral width parameter (1/e2) just below Jth (T). A strong direct correlation is found between the temperature dependence of peak width with the temperature dependence the radiative component of threshold, Jrad(T). At low temperature the correlation is consistent with strong inhomogeneous broadening of the carrier distribution. As temperature increases Jth reduces associated with carriers thermalizing to lower energy states. At higher temperatures homogeneous thermal broadening coupled with non-radiative recombination causes Jth to increase. Inhomogeneous broadening is more pronounced in the p-doped devices due to coulombic attraction between acceptor holes and injected electrons. A detailed analysis of recombination processes using high hydrostatic pressure and spontaneous emission in these lasers as a function of doping density will be presented and discussed at the conference.
InGaAsN is a promising material system to enable low-cost GaAs-based detectors to operate in the telecommunication
spectrum, despite the problems posed by the low growth temperature required for nitrogen incorporation. We
demonstrate that InGaAsN p+-i-n+ structures with nominal In and N fraction of 10% and 3.8%, grown by molecular
beam epitaxy (MBE) under non-optimal growth conditions, can be optimized by post growth thermal annealing to match
the performance of optimally grown structures. We report the findings of an annealing study by comparing the
photoluminescence spectra, dark current and background concentration of the as-grown and annealed samples. The dark
current of the optimally annealed sample is approximately 2 μA/cm2 at an electric field of 100 kV/cm, and is the lowest
reported to date for InGaAsN photodetectors with a cut-off wavelength of 1.3 μm. Evidence of lower unintentional
background concentration after annealing at a sufficiently high temperature, is also presented.
Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) have been very successful at long wavelengths, >4μm, and there is now considerable
effort to develop QCLs for short wavelength (2-3μm) applications. To optimise both interband and QC lasers it is
important to understand the role of radiative and non-radiative processes and their variation with wavelength and
temperature. We use high hydrostatic pressure to manipulate the band structure of lasers to identify the dominant
efficiency limiting processes. We describe how hydrostatic pressure may also be used to vary the separation between the
Γ, Χ and L bands, allowing one to investigate the role of inter-valley carrier scattering on the properties of QCLs. We
will describe an example of how pressure can be used to investigate the properties of 2.9-3.3μm InAs/AlSb QCLs. We
find that while the threshold current of the 3.3μm devices shows little pressure variation even at room temperature, for
the 2.9μm devices the threshold current increases by ~20% over 4kbar at 190K consistent with carrier scattering into the
L-minima. Based on our high pressure studies, we conclude that the maximum operating temperature of InAs/AlSb
QCLs decreases with decreasing wavelength due to increased carrier scattering into the L-minima of InAs.
By measuring the spontaneous emission from normally operating ~1.3um GaInNAs/GaAs-based lasers grown by MBE and by MOVPE we have quantitatively determined the variation of monomolecular (defect-related ~An), radiative (~Bn2) and Auger recombination (~Cn3) as a function of temperature from 130K to 370K. We find that A, B and C are remarkably independent of the growth method. Theoretical calculations of the threshold carrier density as a function of temperature were also performed using a 10 band k·p Hamiltonian from which we could determine the temperature variation of A, B and C. At 300K, A=11x10-8 sec-1, B=8x10-11 cm3 sec-1 and C= 6x10-29 cm6 sec-1. These are compared with theoretical calculations of the coefficients and good agreement is obtained. Our results suggest that by eliminating defect-related currents and reducing optical losses, the threshold current density of these GaInNAs/GaAs-based edge-emitting devices would be more than halved at room temperature. The results from studies of temperature and pressure variation of ~1.3um VCSELs produced by similar MBE growth could also be explained using the same recombination coefficients. They showed a broad gain spectrum and were able to operate over a wide temperature range.
We report the growth by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) of InAlSb/InSb superlattice structures to investigate their potential for reducing the Auger recombination and intervalence absorption effects, which currently limit the maximum operating temperature. The devices were all grown onto InSb(001) substrates and are not lattice matched. They are a psuedo double heterostructure, comprising an active region 3micrometers thick, consisting of 10 repeats of In0.904Al0.096Sb/InSb (10nm/6.5nm), surrounded by undoped layers of In0.944Al0.056Sb. Electrical confinement in the active region is by means of a 20nm thick wide gap In0.794Al0.206Sb barrier layer onto which a p type In0.944Al0.056Sb tunnel contact and highly doped n type In0.944Al0.056Sb region is grown, which together with a substrate highly doped n type In0.944Al0.056Sb region gives optical confinement, due to a Moss-Burstein shift of the refractive index. We have demonstrated laser operation up to 160K for devices ~1000micrometers long by 15micrometers wide. FTIR spectroscopy measurements revealed a lasing wavelength of 3.65micrometers at 80K. Under pulse bias conditions, the threshold current density was 320Acm-2 at 80K. The peak output power was in excess of 800mW. Detailed modeling of the structures shows that greater strain is required in the system in order to quench Auger losses at higher temperatures.
The understanding and evaluation of the Auger coefficient, C, and its variation with band structure is essential for accurate device modeling of long wavelength quantum well devices. We have developed a calculation of the Auger coefficient C for both 'band-to-band' processes, which involve strict k-selection rules, and 'k-relaxed' processes, where the strict k-selection rule is relaxed by momentum from phonons. To identify which process is dominating in 1.5 micrometers QW devices we have compared hydrostatic pressure measurements of the lasing threshold current with theoretical predictions for each process. We find that the 'k-relaxing' models are in good agreement with experiment as a function of pressure while the 'band-to-band' processes overestimate the reduction of the non-radiative component of the threshold current with pressure. Based on these results, we predict the threshold current for a number of well characterized 1.5 micrometers QW devices in the literature with a variety of strains and well widths.
The temperature sensitivity of the threshold current of 1.3 micrometer semiconductor lasers, denoted by the characteristic temperature T0, has remained low, with values ranging from 40 K up to a maximum of order 100 K. We report here on a combined theoretical and experimental analysis to identify the dominant factors contributing to this poor temperature sensitivity. We have determined directly the temperature dependence of the radiative current density, Jrad, by measuring the integrated spontaneous emission, L, from bulk and strained quantum well buried heterostructure devices. We find an effective T0 for Jrad of around 200 K for the bulk device and around 300 K for the quantum well device, in good agrement with the theoretical prediction for ideal lasers. This radiative temperature dependence compares with the measured T0 of around 50 - 60 K for the total threshold current density in both devices, from which we conclude that radiative recombination is not the dominant mechanism of the temperature sensitivity of the laser. We also find from the spontaneous emission data that just below threshold L varies with current I as I varies direct as L3/2, which is expected in the Boltzmann approximation if auger recombination is the dominant current path. We have used these findings to estimate T0 from as simple analytic expression we have derived and find values at room temperature of 40 - 100 K, in agreement with experiment. This poor T0 results both from the temperature dependence of the differential gain and by the major contribution of auger recombination to the total threshold current.
We review the use of large strains both in the design an in the study of semiconductor structures and devices. Large hydrostatic pressure may be applied to samples and devices. This changes the band structure qualitatively without changing the crystal symmetry. We present some results obtained studying lasers by this technique, which reveal the loss mechanism dominating the thresholding current. A new high-pressure determination of the InGaAs/GaAs band offset ratio will be discussed. Axial strain may be applied to samples, or may be built into semiconductor epilayers by using thin layers of non-lattice matched compounds. This changes the crystal symmetry in ways that can benefit device performance. It also enables the structure to depart from the substrate lattice constant, which gives a new freedom to device design. Some recent advances in the InGaAlAs strained-layer system will be described.
The band-structure dependence of impact ionisation in bulk semiconductors strained Ge/Si alloys and multiple quantum well avalanche photodiodes was studied theoretically and experimentally. Hydrostatic pressure was used to investigate impact ionisation in Si Ge and GaAs. The results are interpreted with the aid of theoretically calculated threshold energies for impact ionisation. Calculated thresholds in strained Ge/Si alloys suggest that this material system may be of interest for low-noise photodetectors. However Monte Carlo studies of impact ionisation in multiple quantum well (MQW) avalanche photodiodes (APDs) show that the F valley conduction band offset does not lead to improved performance in GaAs/AlGaAs MQW APDs.
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