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.

The results of a series of studies concerned with formation of epitaxially integrated InGaAs/AlGaAs and AlGaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures with several emitting regions and with investigation of properties of laser diodes based on the above structures operating in the spectral ranges λ = 800–810, 890–910, and 1040–1060 nm are summarized. It is shown that the suggested approach to integration of individual laser structures by the method of the MOVPE epitaxy operates efficiently in fabrication of laser diodes for a wide spectral range on the basis of various types of heterostructures. This approach made it possible to efficiently increase the output power of the laser diodes practically without variation in their mass-and-dimension characteristics. The main advantages of this approach and its limitations are outlined. Epitaxial integration of two laser heterostructures made it possible to increase the differential quantum efficiency by 1.7–2.0 times, while integration of three laser heterostructures increases the differential quantum efficiency by a factor of 2.5–3.0.