Large-area 2D selective area growth for photonic crystal surface emitting lasers

Abstract

We report an investigation into large-area selective area growth of InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells by metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy. The emission wavelength tuning range, growth enhancement, and uniformity of material deposited within square masked regions with central square growth windows with widths in the range of 100–300 μm are studied. Micro-photoluminescence measurements at the centre point of each of the growth windows reveals a total wavelength tuning range of 86 nm across all samples, with a typical tuning range of 30 nm for a given window width, dependent upon dielectric mask width. The thickness enhancement in each of features, as determined by white-light interferometric profiling, indicates that centre point growth rate enhancements of between 1.19 and 2.23× are achieved with respect to the nominal epitaxial structure. By comparing the observed emission wavelengths with those simulated using the enhanced quantum well thicknesses, a range of indium concentrations between 12 and 17 % is calculated for the material at the centre of each feature. Two-dimensional analysis of selected features reveals that areas with uniform emission wavelength up to 100 × 100 μm2 in size can be achieved for the mask patterns used, indicating suitability for future applications in the fabrication of monolithically integrated multi-wavelength photonic crystal surface emitting laser arrays.