Degradation of GaAs0.9P0.1 light‐emitting diodes for optical fiber communication with internal stress

Degradation mechanisms of GaAs0.9P0.1 light‐emitting diodes for optical fiber communication systems were studied to elucidate the effects of internal compressive stress (on the order of 107–108 dyn/cm2) on initial rapid degradation. The diodes were fabricated from wafers with various phosphorus composition gradients (?0.7%/μm) in the tapered layer.Experimental results from the degradation of the diodes operating at 660 A/cm2 showed that the lifetimes of the diodes increased with decreasing the compositional grading in the crystals. The improved lifetime is due not only to the suppression of 〈110〉 dark‐line defects but also to the slow growth velocities of 〈100〉 dark‐line defects and due to slow accumulation rates of nonradiative recombination centers near the PN junctions at low internal stress. For the first time, the growth velocities of 〈100〉 dark‐line defects during initial rapid degradation were observed to depend on the internal compressive stress.

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