Low temperature growth of GaAs quantum well lasers by modulated beam epitaxy

GaAs single quantum well lasers have been successfully grown at low temperatures by a modulated beam epitaxy process in which the Al/GaAs flux is held constant while the As flux is periodically shut off to produce a metal-rich surface. Devices grown at a substrate temperature of 500 degrees C exhibit threshold current densities below 1 kA/cm². This value is lower than normally grown low temperature lasers and is the lowest achieved by any low substrate temperature growth technique. In addition, this technique is more practical than migration enhanced epitaxy for low temperature laser growth.