Analysis of current spreading in long-wavelength, vertical-cavity, surface-emitting lasers

Author

Yanyan Xiong ; Yu-Hwa Lo

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY, USA

fYear

1998

fDate

3-8 May 1998

Firstpage

241

Lastpage

242

Abstract

Summary form only given. Current spreading is a major concern for wafer-bonded 1.3-/spl mu/m and 1.55-/spl mu/m vertical-cavity, surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) because the distance between the active layer and the aperture for wafer-bonded VCSELs is significantly greater than that for shorter wavelength VCSELs. The current spreading problem becomes even more severe for VCSELs with dielectric top mirrors due to carrier injection from the peripheral region of the aperture, as opposed to direct carrier injection to the aperture through the semiconductor Bragg mirror. We have numerically analyzed the current spreading problem for four popular 1.3-/spl mu/m and 1.55-/spl mu/m VCSEL structures. Two structures have n-GaAs/AlGaAs Bragg mirrors, with oxygen implantation and selective AlGaAs oxidation for current confinement, respectively. The other two structures have p-GaAs/AlGaAs Bragg mirrors, with similar current confinement structures. Common to all four devices are their wafer-bonded GaAs/AlGaAs mirrors and top dielectric mirrors.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; carrier density; carrier mobility; gallium arsenide; laser cavity resonators; laser theory; semiconductor device models; semiconductor lasers; surface emitting lasers; 1.3 micron; 1.55 micron; Boltzmann statistics; GaAs-AlGaAs; Poisson´s equation; carrier distribution model; carrier injection; current confinement; current spreading; dielectric top mirrors; long-wavelength VCSEL; low-field mobility model; n-GaAs/AlGaAs Bragg mirrors; p-GaAs/AlGaAs Bragg mirrors; selective AlGaAs oxidation; wafer-bonded VCSEL; Apertures; Face detection; Laser modes; Optical arrays; Optical waveguides; Stimulated emission; Surface emitting lasers; Temperature distribution; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; Waveguide lasers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics, 1998. CLEO 98. Technical Digest. Summaries of papers presented at the Conference on

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA, USA

Print_ISBN

1-55752-339-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEO.1998.676113

Filename

676113