Native Oxides on Aluminum-Bearing Iii-V Semiconductors With Applications to High-Performance Laser Diodes

108 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1992.In these experiments, water vapor oxidation of Al-bearing III-V semiconductors is employed to form high quality native oxides. The oxides are examined using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The effect of the semiconductor composition and conductivity type (p/n) on oxidation growth rate is investigated by examining the temperature and time dependence of various Al$\sb{\rm x}$Ga$\sb{\rm 1-x}$As and In$\sb{0.5}$(Al$\sb{\rm x}$Ga$\sb{\rm 1-x}$)$\sb{0.5}$P samples.Device-quality insulating oxides are demonstrated in the In(AlGa)P system and are employed for current confinement in stripe-geometry gain-guided In$\sb{0.5}$(Al$\sb{\rm x}$Ga$\sb{\rm 1-x}$)$\sb{0.5}$P laser diodes. The insulating properties and low refractive index (n $\sim$ 1.6) of the AlGaAs native oxide are employed to fabricate high performance planar native-oxide Al$\sb{\rm x}$Ga$\sb{\rm 1-x}$As-GaAs quantum well heterostructure (QWH) index-guided laser diodes. The low index of the native oxide may also be employed to form continuously adjustable, large, lateral index steps in a planar form. These properties make feasible the fabrication of planar native-oxide Al$\sb{\rm x}$Ga$\sb{\rm 1-x}$As-GaAs QWH ring laser diodes.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD