Fabrication of multi-wavelength lasers by selective intermixing of Si-doped GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

Abstract

Intermixing of the column III atoms in III-V semiconductor heterostructures has attracted considerable interest for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices, since it allows modification of the potential profiles of the heterostructure after material growth, which offers a freedom for the fabrication of novel optoelectronic devices. Among the techniques for enhancing the interdiffusion of Al and Ga is the use of impurity doping. It has been shown that the intermixing of doped quantum wells (QW) can be controlled by the surface condition. For a Si-doped GaAs/AlGaAs QW, intermixing can be achieved under a SiN/sub x/ cap with a larger wavelength shift; while intermixing can be prohibited under a bare surface with no wavelength shift. Using this approach, two-dimensional control of the intermixing is possible by patterning a SiN/sub x/ cap on the surface of the QW structure. In this paper, we demonstrate a dual wavelength laser fabricated from a Si-doped GaAs/AlGaAs QW laser structure.