Effect of selective area growth mask width on multi-quantum-well electroabsorption modulated lasers investigated by synchrotron radiation X-ray microprobe

High performance optoelectronic devices require monolithic integration of different functions at chip level. This is the case of multi-quantum well (MQW) electroabsorption modulated laser (EML), employed in long-distance, high-frequency optical fiber communication applications, which is realized exploiting the selective area growth (SAG) technique. Optimization of the growth parameters is carried out by empirical approaches since a direct characterization of the MQW is not possible with laboratory X-ray sources, owing to the micrometer-variation of composition and thickness inherent to the SAG technique. In this work we combined micrometer-resolved photoluminescence with synchrotron radiation micrometer-resolved X-ray fluorescence to study the effect of different SAG masks on the electronic properties and chemical composition of the SAG MQW EML device.