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Sub-Milliampere Operation of 1540 nm Wavelength Distributed Reflector Laser

with Wirelike Active Regions

Conference Paper  in  Conference Proceedings - International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials · June 2007
DOI: 10.1109/ICIPRM.2007.381239 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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2007 International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials
11:00 - 11:15
Conference Proceedings
ThB2-1
19th IPRM 14 - 18, May 2007 Matsue, Japan

SUB-MILLIAMPERE OPERATION OF 1540 nm WAVELENGTH

DISTRIBUTED REFLECTOR LASER WITH
WIRELIKE ACTIVE REGIONS
Saeed Mahmud Ullah1, Ryo Suemitsu1, Seung-Hun Lee1, Masato Otake1,
Nobuhiko Nishiyama2 and Shigehisa Arai1,3
1
Quantum Nanoelectronics Research Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 O-okayama,
Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan
2
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology,2-12-1
O-okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
3
CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan
Phone: +81-3-5734-2512 Fax: +81-3-5734-2907 E-mail: arai@pe.titech.ac.jp

Abstract
Sub-mA threshold current operation (as low as 0.8 mA) of distributed reflector (DR) lasers with
wirelike active DFB section and passive DBR section was realized at room temperature
continuous wave condition utilizing narrow laser stripe (2.1 µm) and strong index coupling
coefficient of 450 cm-1.

I. Introduction DR laser was not realized yet.

The semiconductor laser oscillating with ultra low
threshold current is a key device for high density parallel
optical interconnections in terms of power consumption.
Therefore, for high frequency low power consumption
operation, studies on several types of lasers have been
reported, such as short cavity lasers with high-reflection
(HR) coatings [1],[2] and vertical cavity surface-emitting
lasers (VCSELs) [3]-[5]. For the 1.5 µm wavelength
laser, the lowest threshold current of 40 µΑ has been
reported for a microdisk laser [6] while the actual value
of its light output was not reported. These lasers can be
operated with a low-threshold current because of their
small active medium volume and strong index-coupling
in the cavity. Previously, low threshold current operation
in sub-mA range of 1.5-1.6µm wavelength lasers has
been demonstrated by distributed feedback (DFB) lasers
consisting of wirelike active regions [7],[8] and VCSELs
[5].
Distributed reflector (DR) laser which consists of
distributed feedback (DFB) and distributed Bragg
reflector (DBR) sections [9],[10] with wirelike active
regions can be operated with a low threshold current
because of its small active volume and strong index
coupling due to its structural features [11]-[13]. It was
also confirmed that lasing occurred only at the longer
wavelength of the stop band due to gain matching effect
[10]. In a theoretical calculation, it was also found that
they have superior dynamic properties such as
modulation sensitivity and spectral chirping [9].
However, a sub-mA threshold current operation of the
In this paper we would like to report single mode
sub-mA threshold current operation of the DR lasers for
the first time.
II. Device structure
The magnified view of Fig. 1 shows a schematic
structure of the fabricated DR laser consisting of active
DFB section with wirelike active regions and passive
grating section with quantum-wire (Q-wire) structure
where La, Λa and Wa denote the section length, the
grating period and the width, respectively, for the
wirelike region in the active section whereas Lp, Λp and
Wp denote same in the passive section. The active
section has a DFB grating by wirelike active regions and
the passive section has a highly reflective DBR by a
different period and width grating compared with the
active section in order to concentrate the output power
onto only one facet, which leads to an increase in the
output efficiency, and create asymmetric mode selection
to achieve stable single mode operation. These sections
were integrated by utilizing the lateral quantum
confinement effect by modulating the wirelike active
regions [13]. The current is injected only to the active
section. By combining these two sections,
high-efficiency operation is expected to be achieved
while maintaining a low-threshold current.
DFB section of the DR laser with wirelike active
regions differs from conventional index-coupling (IC)
DFB laser and gain-coupled (GC) DFB laser regarding
strong index-coupling with small periodic gain

1-4244-0875-X/07/$20.00 ©2007 IEEE. 506

distribution. Gain-coupled and complex-coupled (CC)
DFB lasers are attractive for stable single-mode
operation since the incorporation of gain-coupling works
as an equivalent phase shift. Excellent properties of GC-
and CC-DFB lasers have been reported, such as
linewidth reduction [14] and facet reflection independent
single-mode operation [15]. On the other hand, high
performance operations of DFB lasers with partially
etched MQW gratings have been reported by several
research groups [16],[17]. For these DFB lasers, the
index-coupling coefficient ordinarily becomes much
higher than the gain-coupling coefficients, so that the
phase shift effect induced by the gain- coupling is
negligible. However, one of the resonant modes at the
longer wavelength side of the stopband starts lasing
operation and achieves a good single-mode operation
even though both facets are just cleaved. This specific
spectral property was theoretically explained in terms of
“the local effect” [18]. This phenomenon has been also
observed in DFB lasers with wirelike active regions
[7],[8],[10]-[13]. For low threshold current operation,
narrow stripe has been fabricated which allows not only
lower the active region volume but also confirms
transverse single-mode condition. In order to realize
complete single transverse mode operation, the stripe
width of around 0.3 µm is necessary. However, actually
the higher order transverse mode does not appear if it is
at the wavelength where the gain does not exist.
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of DR laser with active
DFB and passive DBR sections
To reduce the threshold gain by stronger
index-coupling, the refractive index difference between
the wirelike gain region and etched region embedded
with InP can be varied. The schematic diagram of the
wirelike active region and etched groove filled with i-InP
is shown in Fig. 2. The equivalent refractive indices of
507
gain and non-gain regions are termed as neqm and neqs,
respectively. The difference of these two equivalent
refractive indices has been termed as ∆n. For a wirelike
DFB region with a wire width ratio (Wa/Λa) of 0.5 and
∆n=0.03 (neqm= 3.21, neqs=3.18), the maximum value of
the index-coupling coefficient becomes approximately
400 cm-1. However, as the depth of the groove, shown as
d in Fig. 2, is increased, the equivalent refractive index
(neqs) of the etched region is decreased while the
refractive index of the gain region (neqm) remains the
same; therefore the ∆n value is enhanced. Hence,
index coupling coefficient is increased as shown in
equation (1) [19].
1  W  2π ∆g 
κ = κi + iκg = ×sinπ × ∆n + i ......(1)
π  Λ  λ 2
InP
2QWs
d W
i-InP OCL:GaInAsP Λ
InP
neqm
∆n
neqs
Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of cross section of the gain
region with wirelike regions and InP filled
regions
III. Fabrication
The DR laser was fabricated by the combination of
the electron-beam (EB) lithography, CH4/H2 reactive-
ion-etching (RIE) and organo-metallic vapor-phase-
epitaxy. The initial wafer consisted of a p-InP cladding
layer, an undoped-GaInAsP optical confinement layer
(OCL, 260 nm), a double quantum-well (DQW) structure
and an upper GaInAsP OCL (145 nm) grown on p-InP
substrate. The DQW consists of 1 % compressively-
strained quantum-well (6.5 nm) sandwiched by 0.15 %
tensile strained barriers (9.5 nm). EB lithography was
carried out to write the desired wirelike patterns, which
were transferred to SiO2 mask to etch away the DQW
and OCLs by CH4/H2 RIE. For higher index contrast
between etched and non-etched regions, the etching
depth was increased to 180 nm which is higher than the
previously reported depth of ~120nm. After a slight
amount of wet chemical etching to remove the damaged
surface, undoped-InP was regrown into the groove
regions, and the upper OCL (174 nm), n-InP cladding
layer (1.68 µm), and n+-GaInAs contact layer (280 nm)
were successively grown. The SEM diagram of Fig. 3
shows the cross sectional view of the DQW active region
periodically etched and filled with undoped InP. After
the regrowth, another EB lithography was carried out to
write double channel pattern to form high mesa stripe
followed by the CH4/H2 RIE and wet chemical etching
consequently. Then BCB coating was done for
planarization and contact pad evaporation was performed
for electrical current injection.
100nm
front facet of 20 % was obtained. The wire width of the
active and passive sections were Wa=100 nm and Wp=70
nm, respectively. The stripe width of this laser was 2.1
µm and the lengths of the DFB section and DBR section
were 210 µm and 600 µm, respectively, hence the
threshold current density is 180 A/cm2, which is slightly
higher than the best value (130 A/cm2) of the DFB laser
with wirelike active regions [8], but the lowest value for
70nm DR lasers.

0.6
i-InP RT-CW

O utput power P (mW)

0.5 CL/CL
(180nm) LDFB=210µm
0.4 LDBR=600µm
WS=2.1µm
Active Passive 0.3 ηdf=20%
(Λa=240.00nm) (Λp=241.25nm)
0.2
Fig 3 Cross sectional SEM view of DFB and DBR Ith=0.8 mA
active layer 0.1
Index coupling coefficient has been estimated for 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
various depth of the groove in the active region
Injection Current I (mA)
considering the structure mentioned above for OCL, clad
layer and QW structure. The dimension of the laser chip Fig. 5 Typical I-L characteristic of the DR lasers with
was considered to be of 2.1 µm stripe width with 210 µm Ith=0.8 mA.
active region length and 600 µm passive region length
to be inconsistent with the measured device. The
equivalent refractive index of the gain region of the -40 RT-CW
active section was 3.257 where as that of non-gain region I=2Ith
Res=0.02 nm
Intensity (dBm)

varied from 3.219 to 3.225. The estimated κ i values has 41 dB

been plotted against groove depth in Fig. 4. As -60
mentioned above, the depth of the groove in this report
and previous reports were 180 and 120 nm, respectively.
Stopband=11.5 nm
Therefore, the index coupling coefficient in this report -80
increased to 450 cm-1 from the previous one of 370 cm-1.
In addition to this, the previous wirewidth was 90 nm,
which is narrower than the current device. 1530 1540 1550
Wavelength (nm)

460 W =100 nm Fig. 6 Typical lasing spectrum of the DR lasers

Index coulping κ i (/cm)

a
at a bias current of 2Ith
440
Figure 6 confirms the single-mode operation of the
420
same laser in the Fig.4 with a sub-mode
400 suppression-ratio (SMSR) of 41 dB at the bias current of
2Ith. The stopband of the DFB section was observed
380
between 1531 nm and 1542.5 nm (stopband width of
360 11.5 nm), and it corresponds to an index-coupling
100 120 140 160 180 200 coefficient κi of 450 cm-1, which agrees to the estimation
Groove depth d (nm) in Fig. 4. The reduced active region volume due to
narrower stripe width as well as higher index-coupling
Fig. 4 Index coupling coefficient variation with coefficient κi of 450 cm-1, which is 25 % higher than that
groove depth in previously reported devices [11]-[13], are responsible
IV. Results for achieving lower threshold current operation.
Figure 5 shows the typical I-L characteristic of the Figures 7 and 8 show the FFP pattern of the DR
fabricated DR lasers with threshold current of as low as laser with the cleaved facet measured horizontal and
0.8 mA at room temperature continuous wave (RT-CW) vertical relative to the epitaxial plane at 0.5mW and 2.0
condition. The differential quantum efficiency from the mW output powers, respectively. The FFP revealed

508
 single transverse mode emission from 0.5 mW to 2.0 Kobayashi, K. Furuya, M. Asada, and F. Koyama, and
mW of output power. The beam full width at half Associate Professors Y. Miyamoto, M. Watanabe, T.
maximum power levels for the horizontal and vertical Miyamoto and H. Uenohara of Tokyo Institute of
pattern were 49o and 37o at 2 mW of output power. Technology for fruitful discussions. This research was
financially supported by CREST, Japan Science
Research and Technology Agency and Grant-in-Aid for
1 Scientific Research (No. 17206010) from the Ministry of
Horizontal
Vertical Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
0.8
(MEXT), Japan, to which the first author would like to
Intensity (a.u.)

0.6 express his thanks for financial support to foreign

students.
0.4
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V. Conclusion
DR lasers fabricated by electron beam lithography,
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