Growth of 1.3 μm InGaAsN laser material on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy

We have grown bulk GaAsN and InGaAsN quantum well laser structures using molecular beam epitaxy and an electron cyclotron resonance plasma source with N2 gas. X-ray diffraction measurements in GaAsN grown on GaAs were used to determine the concentration of N in the range of 0% to ∼2%. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements were done on quantum well test structures and half lasers. The PL intensity decreases and the PL full width at half maximum (FWHM) increases as the wavelength increases. Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 850 °C for 10 s improves the PL intensity by a factor of 8 and increases the PL peak emission energy by 80 meV. The longest wavelength measured to date in laser structures with single quantum wells of InGaAsN is 1480 nm with a FWHM of 60 meV. Samples with and without RTA were fabricated into broad-area lasers with dimensions of 50×500 μm2. Laser devices with RTA operated in the pulsed mode at 1.3 μm with a threshold current density of 9.5 kA/cm2.