Ultraviolet laser quantum well intermixing based prototyping of bandgap tuned heterostructures for the fabrication of superluminescent diodes

The ultraviolet laser induced quantum well intermixing process has been investigated for prototyping of multiple bandgap quantum well (QW) wafers designed for the fabrication of superluminescent diodes (SLDs). The process takes advantage of a krypton fluoride excimer laser (λ=248 nm) that by irradiating an InP layer capping GaInAs/GaInAsP QW heterostructure leads to the modification of its surface chemical composition and formation of point defects. A subsequent rapid thermal annealing step results in the selective area intermixing of the investigated heterostructures achieving a high quality bandgap tuned material for the fabrication of broad spectrum SLDs. The devices made from a 3-bandgap material are characterized by ~100 nm wide emission spectra with relatively flat profiles and emission exceeding 1 mW.