Oxidation of Al-bearing III-V materials: A review of key progress

Abstract

Since the discovery of III-V oxidation by Dallesasse and Holonyak in 1989, significant progress has been made both technically and commercially in the use of oxides in compound semiconductor devices. Devices ranging from lasers to transistors have been fabricated that capitalize on the process-induced modification of refractive index and conductivity, allowing control of the two carriers of information in opto-electronic systems—the photon and the electron. Of particular note has been the use of oxidation for the fabrication of high-speed vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, which have extensive use in optical data links found in enterprise networks, data centers, and supercomputing applications. The discovery of III-V oxidation and key technical milestones in the fabrication of photonic and electronic devices that use oxidation are reviewed.