Room-temperature threshold-current dependence of GaAs-Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As double-heterostructure lasers on x and active-layer thickness

Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1978 · J. Appl. Phys.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.325421· OSTI ID:6803647

Casey, Jr, H C

The known properties of GaAs and Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As have been used to calculate the threshold-current density of double-heterostructure (DH) lasers at room temperature without adjustable parameters. In the absence of leakage currents due to unconfined carriers, the room-temperature threshold-current density for broad-area DH lasers may be repesented by J/sub th/ (A/cm/sup 2/) =4.5 x 10/sup 3/d+(20d/GAMMA)(..cap alpha../sub i/+(1/L) ln(1/R)), where d is the active-layer thickness in microns, GAMMA is the waveguide confinement factor, ..cap alpha../sub i/ is the internal loss, L is the cavity length, and R is the facet reflectivity. The experimentally observed increase of J/sub th/ for x<0.2 given by Rode is shown to be due to the diffusive electron and hole leakage currents, and a best fit to the data was obtained with an electron minority-carrier diffusion length in Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As (x< or approx. =0.3) of approx.1 ..mu..m. The above expression for J/sub th/ fits Kressel and Ettenberg's J/sub th/ versus active-layer-thickness data at x=0.65, while for x=0.3, the experimental J/sub th/ is 300 A/cm/sup 2/ larger than the calculated J/sub th/ at d=0.1 ..mu..m. This difference appears to be due to greater scattering loss at x=0.3 than x=0.6.

• Research Organization: Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974
• OSTI ID: 6803647
• Journal Information: J. Appl. Phys.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Appl. Phys.; (United States) Vol. 49:7; ISSN JAPIA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420300* -- Engineering-- Lasers-- (-1989)
ALUMINIUM ARSENIDES
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ARSENIC COMPOUNDS
ARSENIDES
CURRENT DENSITY
ENERGY
ENERGY LOSSES
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
EXCITATION
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
GALLIUM COMPOUNDS
JUNCTION DIODES
LASER CAVITIES
LASERS
PERFORMANCE
PNICTIDES
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES
SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS
THRESHOLD ENERGY