Modeling of the photoluminescence in multiquantum-well heterostructure laser wafers

Abstract

We have performed numerical analysis of the electro- and photoluminescence (PL) of a wafer which would have been used in the manufacture of a multiquantum-well 1.5 /spl mu/m InGaAsP-InP-based semiconductor laser diode. It is shown that the deviation of the carrier distribution from a quasi-Boltzmann distribution plays a very important role in the interpretation of PL data. This is dramatically illustrated in the analysis of PL under short circuit conditions. Under this condition, the usual analytical theory predicts no PL, while our calculations agree with our experimental results in which PL is observed. For a wafer with electrical contacts, our calculations show that an increase in the positive applied voltage decreases the PL threshold and that the PL intensity saturates at large pump powers. Both these observations are consistent with the PL experiments. Moreover, our analysis shows that, in addition to the PL spreading effect, a non-Boltzmann carrier distribution is another important factor in determining the threshold of PL intensity.