Monolithic integration of a vertical cavity surface emitting laser and a metal semiconductor field effect transistor

Abstract

Monolithic integration of a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) and a metal semiconductor field effect transistor (MESFET) is reported for the first time. The epitaxial layers for both GaAs VCSELs and MESFETs are grown on an n-type GaAs substrate by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) at the same time. The VCSELs with a 10 μm diam active region exhibit an average threshold current (Ith) of 6 mA and a continuous wave (cw) maximum power of 1.1 mW. The MESFETs with a 3 μm gate length have a transconductance of 50 mS/mm. The laser output is modulated by the gate voltage of the MESFETs and exhibits an optical/electrical conversion factor of 0.5 mW/V.