Solid source molecular beam epitaxy growth of GaInP/AlGaInP heterostructures and 600-nm-range quantum well laser diodes

We have studied the growth of (Al_xGa_1-x)_0.51In_0.49P quaternary alloy and GaInP/AlGaInP heterostructures using solid, elemental phosphorus in a valved cracking cell by molecular beam epitaxy. The results obtained have been applied for the growth of strained-layer quantum well laser structures emitting in the red-light region. In order to further assess the quality of our materials, the grown laser structures have been processed into laser diodes that have been characterized. The measured threshold current densities of the 1 mm long as-cleaved broad-area laser diodes were 385 A/cm² and 820 A/cm² at 680 nm and 633 nm, respectively. To the best of our knowledge these values are the lowest reported threshold current densities for SSMBE grown lasers in this wavelength range. A high T₀ of 113 K was obtained for double-QW in the temperature interval of 20°C-90°C. All these results clearly demonstrate that state-of-the-art 600-nm-range laser diodes can be prepared using only solid sources