John T. Leonard

Demonstration of a III-nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser with a III-nitride tunnel junction intracavity contact

We report on a III-nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) with a III-nitride tunnel junction (TJ) intracavity contact. The violet nonpolar VCSEL employing the TJ is compared to an equivalent VCSEL with a tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) intracavity contact. The TJ VCSEL shows a threshold current density (Jth) of ∼3.5 kA/cm2, compared to the ITO VCSEL Jth of 8 kA/cm2. The differential efficiency of the TJ VCSEL is also observed to be significantly higher than that of the ITO VCSEL, reaching a peak power of ∼550 μW, compared to ∼80 μW for the ITO VCSEL. Both VCSELs display filamentary lasing in the current aperture, which we believe to be predominantly a result of local variations in contact resistance, which may induce local variations in refractive index and free carrier absorption. Beyond the analyses of the lasing characteristics, we discuss the molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) regrowth of the TJ, as well as its unexpected performance based on band-diagram simulations. Furthermore, we investigat...

Nonpolar III-nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers incorporating an ion implanted aperture

We report on our recent progress in improving the performance of nonpolar III-nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) by using an Al ion implanted aperture and employing a multi-layer electron-beam evaporated ITO intracavity contact. The use of an ion implanted aperture improves the lateral confinement over SiNx apertures by enabling a planar ITO design, while the multi-layer ITO contact minimizes scattering losses due to its epitaxially smooth morphology. The reported VCSEL has 10 QWs, with a 3 nm quantum well width, 1 nm barriers, a 5 nm electron-blocking layer, and a 6.95- λ total cavity thickness. These advances yield a single longitudinal mode 406 nm nonpolar VCSEL with a low threshold current density (∼16 kA/cm2), a peak output power of ∼12 μW, and a 100% polarization ratio. The lasing in the current aperture is observed to be spatially non-uniform, which is likely a result of filamentation caused by non-uniform current spreading, lateral optical confinement, contact resistance, and...

Nonpolar III-nitride vertical-cavity surface emitting lasers with a polarization ratio of 100% fabricated using photoelectrochemical etching

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) band gap selective undercut etching is discussed as an alternative technique to chemical-mechanical polishing and laser-lift off for substrate removal for III-nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). A top-down PEC etch is also described, which offers the ability to epitaxially define an etch-stop layer, thereby achieving a high degree of cavity length control. The temperature-dependent lasing characteristics of m-plane VCSELs fabricated using PEC etching techniques are analyzed. Measurements of multiple VCSELs from the same wafer yielded lasing emission polarized along the a-direction with a polarization ratio of 100%, indicating that the entire array was uniformly polarized.

Demonstration of a III-nitride edge-emitting laser diode utilizing a GaN tunnel junction contact.

We demonstrate a III-nitride edge emitting laser diode (EELD) grown on a (2021) bulk GaN substrate with a GaN tunnel junction contact for hole injection. The tunnel junction was grown using a combination of metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition (MOCVD) and ammonia-based molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) which allowed to be regrown over activated p-GaN. For a laser bar with dimensions of 1800 µm x 2.5 µm, without facet coatings, the threshold current was 284 mA (6.3 kA/cm2) and the single facet slope efficiency was 0.33 W/A (12% differential efficiency). A differential resistivity at high current density of 2.3 × 10-4 Ω cm2 was measured.

Nonpolar III-nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser with a photoelectrochemically etched air-gap aperture

We demonstrate a III-nitride nonpolar vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) with a photoelectrochemically (PEC) etched aperture. The PEC lateral undercut etch is used to selectively remove the multi-quantum well (MQW) region outside the aperture area, defined by an opaque metal mask. This PEC aperture (PECA) creates an air-gap in the passive area of the device, allowing one to achieve efficient electrical confinement within the aperture, while simultaneously achieving a large index contrast between core of the device (the MQW within the aperture) and the lateral cladding of the device (the air-gap formed by the PEC etch), leading to strong lateral confinement. Scanning electron microscopy and focused ion-beam analysis is used to investigate the precision of the PEC etch technique in defining the aperture. The fabricated single mode PECA VCSEL shows a threshold current density of ∼22 kA/cm2 (25 mA), with a peak output power of ∼180 μW, at an emission wavelength of 417 nm. The near-field emission p...

Smooth e-beam-deposited tin-doped indium oxide for III-nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser intracavity contacts

We carried out a series of simulations analyzing the dependence of mirror reflectance, threshold current density, and differential efficiency on the scattering loss caused by the roughness of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) intracavity contacts for 405 nm flip-chip III-nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). From these results, we determined that the ITO root-mean-square (RMS) roughness should be <1 nm to minimize scattering losses in VCSELs. Motivated by this requirement, we investigated the surface morphology and optoelectronic properties of electron-beam (e-beam) evaporated ITO films, as a function of substrate temperature and oxygen flow and pressure. The transparency and conductivity were seen to increase with increasing temperature. Decreasing the oxygen flow and pressure resulted in an increase in the transparency and resistivity. Neither the temperature, nor oxygen flow and pressure series on single-layer ITO films resulted in highly transparent and conductive films with <1 nm RMS r...

High-brightness semipolar (2021¯) blue InGaN/GaN superluminescent diodes for droop-free solid-state lighting and visible-light communications

A high-brightness, droop-free, and speckle-free InGaN/GaN quantum well blue superluminescent diode (SLD) was demonstrated on a semipolar (2021¯) GaN substrate. The 447-nm emitting SLD has a broad spectral linewidth of 6.3 nm at an optical power of 123 mW. A peak optical power of 256 mW was achieved at 700 mA CW injection current. By combining YAG:Ce phosphor, SLD-generated white light shows a color-rendering index (CRI) of 68.9 and a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 4340 K. The measured frequency response of the SLD revealed a -3  dB bandwidth of 560 MHz, thus demonstrating the feasibility of the device for both solid-state lighting (SSL) and visible-light communication (VLC) applications.

Demonstration of low resistance ohmic contacts to p-type (202̄1̄) GaN

We demonstrate low resistance Ohmic contacts to ( semipolar p-type GaN using a thin p++–GaN contact layer. This layer was optimized by varying the V/III ratio, Cp2Mg flow, thickness, and growth rate which produced low forward voltage devices with specific contact resistivities estimated to be 4 × 10−4 Ω cm2 and 5 × 10−4 Ω cm2 for palladium contacts and indium tin oxide (ITO) contacts respectively. Forward voltages of 2.89 V and 3.47 V were obtained at 20 A cm−2 and 800 A cm−2 respectively for light emitting diodes (LEDs) emitting at 435 nm with palladium contacts. LEDs with ITO contacts had forward voltages of 2.94 V and 3.55 V at 20 A cm−2 and 800 A cm−2 respectively.

Semipolar InGaN-based superluminescent diodes for solid-state lighting and visible light communications

III-nitride light emitters, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs), have been demonstrated and studied for solid-state lighting (SSL) and visible-light communication (VLC) applications. However, for III-nitride LEDbased SSL-VLC system, its efficiency is limited by the “efficiency droop” effect and the high-speed performance is limited by a relatively small -3 dB modulation bandwidth (<100 MHz). InGaN-based LDs were recently studied as a droop-free, high-speed emitter; yet it is associated with speckle-noise and safety concerns. In this paper, we presented the semipolar InGaN-based violet-blue emitting superluminescent diodes (SLDs) as a high-brightness and high-speed light source, combining the advantages of LEDs and LDs. Utilizing the integrated passive absorber configuration, an InGaN/GaN quantum well (QW) based SLD was fabricated on semipolar GaN substrate. Using SLD to excite a YAG:Ce phosphor, white light can be generated, exhibiting a color rendering index of 68.9 and a color temperature of 4340 K. Besides, the opto-electrical properties of the SLD, the emission pattern of the phosphor-converted white light, and the high-speed (Gb/s) visible light communication link using SLD as the transmitter have been presented and discussed in this paper.

Comparison of nonpolar III-nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with tunnel junction and ITO intracavity contacts

We report on the lasing of III-nitride nonpolar, violet, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with IIInitride tunnel-junction (TJ) intracavity contacts and ion implanted apertures (IIAs). The TJ VCSELs are compared to similar VCSELs with tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) intracavity contacts. Prior to analyzing device results, we consider the relative advantages of III-nitride TJs for blue and green emitting VCSELs. The TJs are shown to be most advantageous for violet and UV VCSELs, operating near or above the absorption edge for ITO, as they significantly reduce the total internal loss in the cavity. However, for longer wavelength III-nitride VCSELs, TJs primarily offer the advantage of improved cavity design flexibility, allowing one to make the p-side thicker using a thick n-type III-nitride TJ intracavity contact. This offers improved lateral current spreading and lower loss, compare to using ITO and p-GaN, respectively. These aspects are particularly important for achieving high-power CW VCSELs, making TJs the ideal intracavity contact for any III-nitride VCSEL. A brief overview of III-nitride TJ growth methods is also given, highlighting the molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) technique used here. Following this overview, we compare 12 μm aperture diameter, violet emitting, TJ and ITO VCSEL experimental results, which demonstrate the significant improvement in differential efficiency and peak power resulting from the reduced loss in the TJ design. Specifically, the TJ VCSEL shows a peak power of ~550 μW with a threshold current density of ~3.5 kA/cm2, while the ITO VCSELs show peak powers of ~80 μW and threshold current densities of ~7 kA/cm2.