Self-Consistent Analysis of Carrier Confinement and Output Power in 1.3-$\mu{\hbox {m}}$ InAs–GaAs Quantum-Dot VCSELs

Abstract

A self-consistent model comprising rate equations and thermal conduction equation is used to analyze the influence of self-heating on the carrier occupation, quantum efficiency, and output power of 1.3- $\mu{\hbox {m}}$ InAs–GaAs quantum dot (QD) vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The simulation results show that the poor hole confinement in QDs is due to the thin wetting layer, and increase in QD density and layer number can significantly improve the self-heating effect and quantum efficiency of the device. The output power of the QD VCSEL is mainly determined by the quantum efficiency. High output power can be achieved by the high number of QD layers and QD density. However, there exists an optimized number of QD layers ( $\sim$ 15) to achieve the highest output power.