Influence of phosphorus vapor ambient for InGaAsP growth on GaAs substrate

Abstract

For visible-light-emitting laser diodes, InGaAsP double heterostructures have been grown on GaAs substrates using liquid-phase epitaxy. As the growth temperature is as high as about 780 °C, a large amount of phosphorus evaporates from the solutions for the cladding layers during the growth process. The phosphorus vapor disturbs the solution composition for the active layer, so that very thin and uniform active layers cannot be obtained. By using In-P-Sn solution and supplying the phosphorus partial pressure around the graphite boat, the influence of phosphorus vapor ambient for InGaAsP (λPL=805 nm) growth is confirmed. When the phosphorus partial pressure increases, the surface of epitaxial layer becomes rough and the substrate is partly etched back. From x-ray diffraction and photoluminescence spectral measurements, the composition of the grown layer is also found to be changed. As a result of increasing the flow rate of H2 gas in order to protect the solution for the active layer from phosphorus contamination, the double heterostructure wafers with the high-quality active layer can be obtained reproducibly. Thus, pulsed lasing operation at room temperature has been achieved. The lasing wavelength is 816 nm and the threshold current density is ∼4.6 kA/cm2.