Proton implantation for the isolation of AlGaAs/GaAs quantum cascade lasers

The novel fabrication scheme of the mid-infrared (~9.5 μm) Al0.45Ga0.55As/GaAs plasmon-enhanced-waveguide quantum cascade laser (QCL) is reported. The electric isolation was made exclusively by 6.5 μm-deep proton implantation. The applied implantation allowed us to suppress the current spreading and at the same time enabled the laser radiation confinement without any mesa formation. A galvanic gold layer at least 3.5 μm thick covering the top ohmic contact was used as a mask for implantation. This mask was not removed after the implantation, but it served for heat spreading from the laser. A considerable reduction in the necessary technological steps was obtained with the presented novel fabrication scheme, in comparison with the standard mesa-etching-based method.

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