Low-threshold GaAs/AlGaAs quantum-well lasers grown by organometallic vapor-phase epitaxy using trimethylamine alane

Abstract

We have utilized a new aluminum source, trimethylamine alane (TMAA), in the growth of graded-index separate-confinement heterostructure single quantum-well GaAs/AlGaAs laser structures by low pressure (30 Torr) organometallic vapor-phase epitaxy. We find lower carbon and oxygen incorporation in AlGaAs epilayers using TMAA since it does not contain a direct Al–C bond and it is not susceptible to the formation of volatile Al–O containing compounds. The oxygen and carbon concentrations were below the detection limits (< 5 × 1016 cm−3 and < 3 × 1016 cm−3, respectively) of the secondary ion mass spectrometry measurements. Broad-area lasers with 10-nm quantum wells and Al0.45Ga0.55As cladding layers exhibited threshold current densities of 140 A cm−2 for cavity lengths of 1 mm, internal quantum efficiencies of 81%, and intrinsic losses of 1.6 cm−1. These results demonstrate that extremely high-quality AlGaAs and GaAs quantum wells can be grown with TMAA.