Application of EBIC and voltage contrast techniques to the study of current blocking in buried heterostructure lasers

Summary form only given. Real-index guided semiconductor lasers with their active layers buried in lower-index material require careful design and fabrication to achieve high-injection efficiencies in these devices. A design god of primary importance is that of zero leakage current. Leakage currents can involve the current-blocking layers, the heterostructure itself or both. In this presentation we discuss the great utility of techniques available on the scanning electron microscope (SEM) as feedback tools in the development of lasers with highly effective blocking of leakage currents. A diagram of the InGaAsP-InP capped mesa buried heterostructure (CMBH) laser is shown to consist of an etched mesa that includes the active layer.