AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures are the base of many semiconductor devices. The fabrication of new types of devices demands heterostructures with special features, such as large total thickness (~20 μm), ultrathin layers (~1 nm), high repeatability (up to 1000 periods) and uniformity, for which a conventional approach of growing such heterostructures is insufficient and the development of new growth procedures is needed. This article summarizes our work on the metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) growth of AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures for modern infrared devices. The growth approaches presented allow for the improved output characteristics of different emitting devices such as multi active region lasers, epitaxially integrated via highly doped tunnel junctions (emission wavelength λ ~ 1 μm), quantum cascade lasers (λ ~10 μm) and THz laser (λ ~100 μm), based on short-period superlattice with 500–2000 layers.
A set of semiconductor lasers with different stripe widths is fabricated based on the AlGaInAs/InP heterostructure with an ultra-narrow waveguide. The key characteristics of the lasers (light-current curves (L-I), current-voltage curves (I-V), and spectral and spatial characteristics) are measured, and their dependence on the stripe width is shown. The operating optical power increases from 1.4 W to 4.3 W; however, the lateral brightness decreases from 1.09 W/(mm*mrad) to 0.65 W/(mm*mrad) as the stripe width increases from 20 to 150 μm.
— This paper presents results of a comparative experimental study aimed at producing GaAs/GaInP and GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells (QWs) by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. The photoluminescence...