cw electro-optical characteristics and preliminary reliability of double-heterostructure GaAs-AlxGa1−xAs lasers grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract
The cw threshold currents and total forward series resistances of the proton‐bombarded stripe‐geometry lasers fabricated from GaAs‐Al0.3Ga0.7As double‐heterostructure (DH) wafers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are at least as low as those similar‐geometry lasers grown by liquid phase epitaxy. Yields for such laser diodes of ≳90% were obtained. Randomly picked diodes fabricated from an early MBE DH wafer having a 0.4‐μm GaAs active layer have operated continuously at a constant output power of ∼2 mW/mirror in a ∼38 °C dry‐nitrogen ambient for more than 13 000 h and are still operating.