CA1125897A - Strip buried heterostructure laser - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure A double heterostructure laser having a pair of opposite-conductivity-type, wide bandgap cladding layers separated by a narrower bandgap active region is characterized in that the active region includes a low-loss waveguide layer and contiguous therewith a narrower bandgap active layer in the form of a narrow strip which extends along the longitudinal (resonator) axis of the laser.
Suitable lateral current confinement means, such as reversed biased p-n junctions, are provided to constrain pumping current to flow in a narrow channel through the active layer. Lasers of this type exhibit relatively high pulsed power outputs (e.g., 400 mW), linear L-I
characteristics, stable fundamental transverse mode and single longitudinal mode oscillation. In another embodiment the surfaces of the waveguide layer adjacent the active layer are provided with distributed feedback gratings. Also described are techniques for shaping the active layer without the introduction of debilitating defects therein, as well as procedures for LPE growth on Al-containing Group III-V compound layers Which are exposed to processing in the ambient.

OGAN, R. A. 31-3

Description

Strip buried heterostructure laser Background of the Invention This invention relates to semiconductor junction lasers.
The stripe geometry contact for junction lasers was s proposed by R. A. Furnanage et al. (U.S. patent No.
3,363,195, granted January 9, 1968) more than a decade ago and has been incorporated, in one form or another, in various heterostructure laser configurations in use and under study today. These lasers, which range from 10 the simple double heterostructure (DH) (I. Hayashi, U.S.
patent 3,758,875, granted September 11, 1973) to more com-plicated buried heterostructure (BH) [T. Tsukada, Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 45, p. 4899 (1974)], each have one or more advantageous operating characteristics.
The DH laser has the longest lifetime of all semi-conductor lasers, exceeding 105 hours to date, and is characterized by low thresholds and fundamental trans-verse mode operation. On the other hand, it has a wide beam divergence, a nonlinearity (known as a "kink") in 20 its light-current (L-I) characteristic, and incomplete lateral current confinement.
The Tsukada BH laser, which includes a GaAs active region completely surrounded by Alo 3Ga0 7As, has effective transverse mode stabilization, but the 25 refractive index ~hange along the junction plane is so large that stable fundamental mode lasing is possible ' -only for active layer widths of < l~m, resulting in low output power (e.g., 1 mW) and large beam divergence in both transverse directions. In BH lasers with wider active layers, higher order modes are easily excited near threshold.
Summary of the Invention According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a method of fabricating a semiconductor device having an active region therein comprising the steps o:
epitaxially growing on a semiconductor body a first layer from which said active region of a predetermined geometry is to be formed, protecting the top surface of said first layer from the introduction of defects therein during subsequent processing by epitaxially growing a thin se 15 cond layer thereon which can be selectively etched in the presence of said first layer, masking said se~ond layer to define said geometry, selectively etching away said second layer in the mask openings to expose the underlying first layer, and removing at least a portion of said first layer to effect said geometry.
Other aspects of this invention are claimed in our patent application Serial No. 315,705 filed~on October 31, 1978 of which the present application is a division, and in a second division thereof.
In accordance with one preferred embodiment of our invention a strip buried heterostructure (SBH) laser com-prises a pair of opposite-conductivity-type, wide bandgap, semiconductor cladding layers separated by a narrower bandgap, semiconductor active region characterized _ 3 ~ 5B9~7 in that the active region includes a low-loss waveguide layer and contiguous therewith a narrower bandgap active layer in the form of a narrow strip which extends along the longitudlnal (resonator) axis of the laser. Prefe~ably, 5 the bandgap difference between the waveguide and active layers is sufficiently large to confine to ~he a~tive lay~
minority carriers injected therein when the cladding layers are forward biased, yet small enough to allow a significant portion of the stimulated radiation generated in the active 10 layer to be coupled into the waveguide layer, thereby reducing the optical power density at the mirror facets.
In addition, it is also preferable that the bandgap difference between the waveguide layer and the contiguous opposite-conductivity-type cladding layer be large enough 15 to prevent significant leakage current between the two layers under normal operating conditions of the laser.
Means are also preferably provided for constraining pumping current to flow in a narrow channel through the strip-shaped active layer. In one embodiment, 20 the constraining means includes a pair of laterally spaced reverse~biased p-n junctions-near the top surface of the laser. ~owever, other constraining means, such as proton bombardment, are also suitable.
An illustrative embodiment of our SBH laser was 25 fabricated from the GaAs-AlGaAs materials system and exhibited, over a wide operating range, high power output, a linear L-I characteristic for all currents up to catastrophic failure, stable fundamental transverse and single longitudinal mode oscillation ana reduced beam 30 divergence, along with adequate lasing thresholds and external quantum efficiencies.
In other embodiments of our invention, the strip active layer is partially embedded in the low~loss waveguide layer instead of being formed on top of a major 35 surface of the waveguide layer. In either case, however, the portions of the major surface of the waveguide layer adjacent the active layer can be provided with distributed feedback gratings.

OGAi~s R. A. 31-3 Another aspect of our invention is a method for defining the geometry of the strip active layer, or other device active region, without the introduction of debilitating defects therein during shaping operations.
thin epitaxial protective is grown on the active layer before it is masked and shaped (e.g., by etching and/or anodization), the protective layer is selectively etched away in mas~ openings to expose the ~c~ive layeL, and thin portions of the active layer are removed (e.g., by anodization) to define the desired geo~etry. In the fabrication of our SBH laser, these procedures a~e followed by growing over the shaped structure a cladding layer having a composition essentially identical to that of the protective layer so that the latter is incorporated into the former.
One additional aspect of our invention entails a procedure for epitaxially growing a Group III-V compound second layer (e.g., the AlGaAs cladding layer) from the liquid phase on an Al~containing Group III-V compound first 20 layer (e.g., the ~lGaAs waveguide layer). After growth of the first layer, ~ non-Al-containing Group III-V compound epitaxial protective layer (e.g., GaAs) about several hundred angstroms thick is formed on a major surface of the first layer before exposing the first layer to an ambient 25 which would otherwise oxidize it. Processing, such as etching and/or anodization, can be used to form the protective layer from a much thic~er layer (e.g., that ~rom which the active strip of an SBH laser is formed), or in some applications the thin layer may be grown directly (e.g., by deposition of the first layer and the protective layer by molecular bea~ epitaxy). In either event, state of the art technology has demonstrated that LPE yields better quality layers for optical devices than ~lBE, but ~PE
growth on ambient-exposed Al-containing layers is difficult 35because Al tends to oxidize so readily. The protective layer enables the use of LPE because the molten solution used to grow the second layer dissolves the protective layer so that the second layer grows directly on the first L~AN, R. A. 31-3 .

` 5 ~ 5~'7 layer.
Brief Description of the Drawing Our invention, togcther with its various f~atures and advantages, can be readily understood from the following more detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which the fi~u~es are no~
drawn to scale for clarity of illustration.
FIG. 1 is a schematic isometric view of an S8H
laser in accordance with one embodiment of our invention in which the strip active layer is formed on top of a major surface of the waveguide layer;
FIG. 2 is an end view of an SBH laser in accordance with another embodiment of our invention in which the strip active layer is partially embedded in the waveguide layer; and FIG. 3 is a schematic isometric view of an SBH
laser in accordance with yet another embodiment of our invention in which distributed feedback gratings flank the strip active layer.
Detailed Description SBH Laser Structure ~ ith reference now to FIG. 1, there is shown an SBH laser 10 formed on a substrate 11 and comprising first and second opposite-conductivity-type, wide handgap, semiconductor cladding layers 12 and 14 separated by a narrower bandgap, semiconductor active region 16 characterized in that active region 16 includes a low loss waveguide layer 16.1 and contiguous therewith a narrower bandgap active layer 16.2 in the form of a narrow strip which extends along the longitudinal (resonator) axis 28 of the laser.: The narrow strlp may be formed on top of a major surface of waveguide-layer 16.1 as in FIG. 1 or, as shown by layer 16.2' of FIG. 2, may be partially el~bedded in haveguide layer 16.1'. In the latter case~ the major surface of the waveguide layer is essentially coplanar with a major surface of the active layer.
Means 18 is provided for constraining pumping current to flow in a narrow channel through the active ~AN R A ~

8~

layer 16.2 tor 16.2') when cladding layers 12 and 14 are forward biased above the lasing threshold. Forward bias voltage is applied by means of suitable ohmic contacts 20 and 22 formed on substrate 11 and means 18, respectively, In the embodiment shown, constraining means 18 com-prises a pair of laterally spaced p-n junctions 1~.1 and 18.2 which are reverse biased when cladding layers 12 and 1~ are forward biased. The junctions are formed by de-positing on cladding layer 14 a layer 18.3 of the same conductivity type and then forming a bifurcated, wider bandgap, opposite-conductivity-type layer 18.~ on layer 18.3. This fabrication technique is described more fully in our U.S. Patent Serial No. 4,169,997 issued on October 2, 19790 The junctions 18.1 and 18.2 are thus 15 separated by a window which exposes a strip of layer 18.3. That strip is contacted by the central portion 22.1 of ohmic contact 22 so that pumping current flows transversely through the layers in a narrow channel from contact portion 22.1 in the window to active layer 16.2.
20 Current spreading can be further reduced by incorporating an additional pair of spaced, reverse biased p-n junctions at the substrate interface by the techniques described in our aforementioned copending application or by using other prior art schemes referenced in that application.
In addition, making the bandgap of cladding layer 14 sufficiently greater than that of active layer 16.2 pre-vents any substantial amount of pumping current from bypassing the active layer 16.2 by flowing directly between the cladding and waveguide layers; i.e., the 30 turn-on voltage of p-n heterojunctions 16.3 between the waveguide and cladding layers in larger (e.g., 1.6V) than the turn-on voltage of p-n heterojunction 16.4 between the waveguide and active layers (e.g., 1.4V).
The pumping current causes the injection of minority 35 carriers into active layer 16~2 where they un~ergo radiative recombination to generate stimulated radia-tion. A significant portion of the optical Eield of this radiation preferably penetrates into the waveguide.

layer 16.1 so as to reduce the optical power density at the mirror facets and thereby increase the threshold for catastrophic damage. To this end the bandgap (o~ , refr2ctive index) difference between active layer 1~.2 and 5 wa~eguide layer 16.1 should be small enouyh to permit such p~netration, yet large enough to con~ine injected minority carriers to the active reCJion and thereby maintain relatively high electronic gain. This laser configuration, we have found, exhibits relatively high pulsed power 10 outputs (in the hundreds of milliwatts range) and, suprisingly, a linear L-I characteristic-free of kinks - at all power levels up to the catastrophic damage threshold.
In addition, this SBH laser exhibited stable fundamental tranverse and single longitudinal mode operation.
In order to reduce the number of nonradiative recombination defect centers at the heterojunction interfaces between the various layers of our SBH laser, it is preferred that essentially lattice matched materials be utilize~. Fewer defect centers in general means lower 20 lasiny thresholds and longer lifetimes. In the Group III-V
compound system these materials include, for example, GaAs-AlGaAs, GaAs-AlGaAsP, GaAsSb-AlGaAsSb and InP-InGaAsP.
Of these, GaAs-AlGaAs has the advantage that it is substantially lattice matched over all solid solutions of 25 GaAs and AlAs. Using the latter system, the SBH laser of FIG. 1 would typically comprise an n-GaAs substrate on which the following layers would be epitaxially grown: an n-AlxGal_xAs cladding layer 12 (0 < x < 1); an n-AlyGal_yAs waveguide layer 16.1 (0 ~ y < 1; y < x); an n-, p- or 30 compensated active layer 16.2 of AlzGal_zAs [0 < z ~ 0.4;
z < y; and (y-z) adapted to confine injected carriers to the active layer while at the same time permitting the optical field to penetrate from the active layer into the waveguide layer]; a p-AlqGal qAs cladding layer 14 [0 < q < 1; q > z and y; and (q-y) > (y-z) to prevent significant pumping current from flowing across heterojunctions 16.3]; a p-GaAs stop-etch and contacting layer 18.3, and an n-AlrGal_rAs bifurcated layer 18.4 ~Ar~ R. A 31-3 -- 8 - ~.12~
.
(O < r C 1). Of course, it is obvious that the conouctivity types of the various layers can be reversed.
For efficient operation at room temperature the SBH laser is mounted on a heat sink (not shown) by means 5 well known in the art, and for continuous wave ope~ation at room temperature, the thickness of the active layer 16.
should be less than 1.0 ~m and prefera~ly abou~
0.15-0.20 ~m.
An alternative embodiment of o~r SBH laser 10 incorporates a distributed feedback (DFB) grating which provides frequency selectivity and in inteyrated optics applications obviates the need ~or a discrete resonator formed bY cleaved mirror facets. As shown in ~IG. 3, the DFB grating comprises a plurality of parallel grooves 30 15 which are formed on the same major surface of waveguide layer 16.1 as active layer 16.2, i.e., on heterojunctions 16.3. But, the grooves are formed on opposite sides o~ the active layer 16.2 and e~tend perpendicular to the resonator axis 28 (iOe., perpendicular to the elongated dimension of 20 strip active layer 16.2). As is well known in the art, to provide feedback the periodicity of the grating should preferably be equal to an odd integral number of half wavelengths of the laser radiation as measured in the semiconductor. This grating would typically be formed, for 25 example, by ion milling or chemically etching waveguide layer 16.1 after depositing and suitably masking active layer 16.2. Note that the interior ends of the grating grooves should preferably be as close to the sides of the active layer as possible to allo~ the optical field in the 30 active layer 16.2 to penetrate into the grating.
Illustratively, the grating ends should be within 1-2 ~m of the active region. Although not depicted, the DFB
configuration of FIG. 3 could also be incorporated into the embodiment of FIG. 2 by forming the grating, as before, on 35 the heterojunctions 16.3' on opposite sides of active layer 16.2'. In this case, the interior ends of the grating grooves can be made right next to the sides of the embedded active strip 16.2' by fabricating the grating first, LOGAN, R. A. 31-3 ' ' -. :

39~7 uniformly everywhere, then etching the channel for the embedded strip 16.2'.
In prior art buried heterostructure tBH) lasers, effective transverse mode stabilization has been achieved 5 by introducing a built-in refractive index change along the junction plane; for example, by embedding an active GaAs core completely in Alo 3GaO 7AS cladding. f3Oweve~, the index change along the junction plane is so large that stable fundamental mode lasing is possible only for active 10 layer widths of < 1 ~m, resulting in low output power and large beam divergence in the two transverse directions.
Yet, in lasers with wider active layers, higher order modes are easily excited near threshold.
In our SB~ laser, the introduction of the 15 waveguide layer converts the core in a BH laser to a strip-loaded waveguide having the thin active layer as the strip and the thicker low-loss waveguide as the supporting layer. This structure significantly reduces the effective refractive index change along the junction plane. Hence, 20 fundamental transverse mode along the junction plane can be easily obtained with much wider strip widths. As a result, the output power is increased and the beam divergence is reduced, while mode stabilization is maintained.
Furthermore, better device fabrication and performance 25 control can be achieved.
In the direction perpendicular to the junction plane, the introduction of the waveguide layer greatly increases the cavity thickness (e.g., from about 0.2 ~m to about 1.6 ym) while still providing enouyh potential 30 barrier to confine the injected carriers in the active strip. This thickening of the optical cavity does not affect the threshold current but increases the output power before catastrophic mirror failure and reduces the beam divergence. Since the active strip is much thinner than 35 the waveguide layer, the fundamental transverse mode (perpendicular to the junction plane) acquires more gain than higher order modes.- This provides mode aiscrimination against higher order modes even though they have slightly L~AN ~ R . A. 31-3 hiqher mirror reflectivity. Finally, the waveyuide layer is not ex~ected to decrease the quantum efficiency of the laser because it is essentially lossless at the lasing , wavelength. Therefore, low current threshold, stable fundamental transverse mode operation with linear light-current characteristic and narrow beam divergenc~ in both transverse directions up to substantially hiqh injection current levels, and high output power should be obtainable with our SB~I lasers. Indeed these properties have been 10 observed as discussed in the example which follows.
Example - The following describes the fabrication of an SBH
laser from the GaAs-AlGaAs materials system. Dimensions, materials, conductivity types and carrier concentrations 15 are intended to be illustrative only and should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention.
Using a two-cycle liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) technique, with suitable maskinq, etching and anodization steps between the two cycles, we fabricated SBH lasers of 20 the type depicted in ~IG. 1 comprising: an (001) n-GaAs substrate 11 doped with Si to about 1018 cm~3 and about 100 ~m thick; an n-A10 3GaO 7As cladding layer 12 doped with Sn to about 2xlO17cm~3 and about 1.4 ~m thick; an n-Alo lGaO gAs waveguide layer 16.1 doped with Sn to about 25 2xlO17cm 3; a p-GaAs active layer 16.2 doped with Ge to about 3xlO17cm 3 and about 0.2 ~m thick and o~ various widths - 2.5, 3.5, 5, 7.5 or 10 ~m; a p-Alo 3GaO 7As cladding layer 14 doped with Ge to about 3xlO17cm 3 and about 2.5 ~m thick; a p-GaAs contacting and stop-etch 30 layer 18.3 doped with Ge to about 5xlO17cm~3 and about 0.5 ~m thick, and an n-~10 45Gau 55As layer 1~.4 doped with Sn to about 1017cm~3 and about 1 llm thick. The layer 18.4 had various window openings of comparable size to the underlying active strips 16.2 and in substantial 35 registration there~ith. The substrate contact 20 comprised a Au-Sn alloy whereas the top contact 22 comprised a Au-Zn alloy.
~he fabrication of these SBH lasers proceeded as ~AN, R. A. 31-3 .

5~

follows. D-lrin~ the first LPE c3rowth cycle, layers 12 and 16.1 as described above were deposited on an n-Ga~ wafe~
(i.e., on the substrate 11) and then a p-Ga~s layer was, deposited having a thic~ness equal to that desired for the 5 active layer 16.2. A thin (about 0.2 ~m) p-Alo 3GaO 7As layer was then grown on the p-GaAs layer. Note, the last layer was deposited to protect the top interface o~ the active layer during subsequent processing steps and does not yet correspond to tlle much thicker claddiny layer 14.
10 ~nis intermediate structure was removed from the LPE
chamber and the top surface of the thin ~lo 3GaO 7As layer was anodized to form a native oxIde masking layer thereon~
Standard photolithographic techniques were then used to form mask strips along the (110) direction in the oxide 15 layer and to expose the thin Alo 3GaO gAs layer between the strips. The exposed Alo 3GaO 07As was selectively etched in an iodine etchant ~113 g KI, 65 g I2, 100 cc El2O) to expose the p-GaAs layer between the strips. Standard anodization (which for~s a native oxide and consumes a 20 ~ortion of the semic~onductor) and st~ipping were then used to relnove nearly all of the p-Ga~s layer between the strips. It ~as important, however, to leave a thin (about 200 Angstrom thic~) layer of p-GaAs between the strips so as not to expose the underlying n-A10 lGaO 9As to the 25 atmosphere. Such exposure makes subsequent LPE growth on ~l-containing Group III-V compounds very difficult.
After remcving the oxide strip masks and subsequent chemical cleaning, the structure on the wa~er comprised layers 12 and 16.1 with strip mesas of p-GaAs 30 (i.e., active layer 16.2) protected by the thin Alo 3GaO 7As layer. The spaces between mesas were protected with the thin ~about 200 Angstro.~ thick) p-GaAs layer.
Next, the wafer was returned to the LPE chamber 3sand p~ 3GaO 7As layer 14 was grown thereon. During this growth step the thin p-Alo 3GaO 7AS layers protecting the tops of the active layers were incorporated into layer 14, and the thin p GaAs layer between the strips was dissolved G~N, R A. 31-3 .

- - 12 - ~ ~ ~5~'7 into the melt used to grow layer 14. ~rherefore~ layer 1~, for all practical purposes, grew directly on the portions of waveg~ide layer 16.1 between the strips as well as on the strips themselves.
The contactinc3 and stop-etch p-GaAs layer 18.3 was then grown ~ollowed by an n~A10 g5Ga0 55As layer. l'he latter was masked, usin~ the same photolithographic m~sk used to define the st~ips, and then selectively e~ched, usin~ the iodine etchant previously described~ down to the 10 p-GaAs layer 18.3, thereby bifurcatiny the n-A10 ~5Ga0 55As layer as depicted by layer 18.4 of FIG. 1. Individual SBH
laser diodes were then formed by conventional metallization, cleaving and heat-sinking procedures.
Light-current (L-I) characteristics of our SBH
15 lasers without anti-reflection mirror coatings were made using standard measurement procedures. The measurements with pulsed injection (150 ns pulse width, 1000 pulses/sec) were made for active layer wiclths of about 5 ~M and 10 ~m and lengths of 380 ~m. The top channel (window in 20 layer 18.4) widths of the lasers with 10 ym and 5 ~m wide active strips were typically about 15 ~m and 10 ~m, respectively. All lasers tested displayed excellent linearity in ~-I characteristics. For lasers with 10 ~m strips, this linearity continued, without catastrophic 25 failure, to about 10 times threshold current where a peak power output of 400 m~ per face was measured. One laser with a 5 ~m strip was tested to the catastrophic failure limit. For that laser linearity continued up to about 15 times threshold at which a peak power output of 230 m~ per 30 face was measured. At this power catastrophic failure occurred. Similarly, we measured the light-current characteristics of other SBH lasers with 5 ~m wide active layers pumped only to an output power of 100 mW per face to avoid burnoùt. The uniformity and linearity of these 35 lasers was evident.
~ or SBH lasers with 10 ~m and 5 ~m wide active layers, current thresholds were 150 mA-180 mA and 90 mA-150 mA, respectively, while the external quantum LOGAN, R. A. 31-3 13 ~ 1~58~
,, ~ . .

efficiencies were 4~%-63~ and ~5~-35~. The lower external quantum efficiency of the lasers with 5 ~m strips was due to: (1) the larger top channel-to-strip width ratio, about

2, as co~pared to about 1.5 for lasers with 10 ~m strips, 5 and t2) the fact that as the top channel width decreases, the amount of lateral current spreadiny in ~he p-GaAs and p-~lo 3GaO 7As layers increases rapidly. B~ using mo~e efficient lateral current confinement schemes, such as laterally spaced, reverse-biased junctions at the substrate 10 interface in addition to those o~ FIG. 1, we believe that much lower current thresholds can be obtained.
The far-field patterns, both along and perpendicular to the junction plane, at various current ; levels above threshold were also measured for a typical SBH
15 laser with a nominal 5 ~m wide active layer. These patterns were measured under pulsed operation U2 to 9 times threshold. In the current region examined, the lasers operated stably in the fundamental mode in both transverse directions with no significant distortion of the field 20 patterns. In general, the beam divergences were about 8-10 degrees and 26-30 degrees in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the junction plane, respectively. For lasers with 10 ~m wide active layers, higher order modes along the junction plane were excited near threshold and 25 successively changed into even higher order modes as the current injection level was increased. We observed, however, no "kink" or other nonlinearity associated with mode transition. Lasers with 5 ~nl wide active layers, under pulsed operation, exhibited single longitudinal mode 30 oscillation at injection currents as high as twice threshold. In general, lasing occurred in several longitudinal modes at slightly above the threshold current Ith (~ 1.05 Ith), but the lasing power quickly concentrated into a single longitudinal mode with a slight increase in 35 current. With increasing current, the longitudinal mode shifted to an adjacent shorter wavelength mode, staying predominantly a single mode over wide current inter~als except during the brief mode transitions. Such current LO~A~ R. A. 31-3 ~ . ... . .

' 5~7 intervals shortened for high injection current levels.
It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are merely illustrative of the many specific embodiments which can be devices to represent application 5 of the principles of our invention. Numerous and varied other arrangements can be devices in acco~dance with these principles by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. In particular, in each of the embodiments of our SBl-i laser it is readily 10 possible to fabricate the strip active layer so that it is shorter than the resonator ti.e., the active layer terminates short of the mirror facets), thereby virtually eliminating surface recombination of the facets. Thus, the active layer would be entirely embedded in wider bandgap 15 material. Also note that with this modification to FIG. 3, the D~B qratings near the facets can be made to extend across the width of the laser.

LOGAN, R. A. 31-3 - .

Claims (2)

Claims:

1. A method of fabricating a semiconductor device having an active region therein comprising the steps of:
epitaxially growing on a semiconductor body a first layer from which said active region of a predetermined geometry is to be formed, protecting the top surface of said first layer from the introduction of defects therein during subsequent processing by epitaxially growing a thin second layer thereon which can be selectively etched in the presence of said first layer, masking said second layer to define said geometry, selectively etching away said second layer in the mask openings to expose the underlying first layer, and removing at least a portion of said first layer to effect said geometry.

2. The process of claim 1 including the steps removing the mask from said second layer, and epitaxially growing a third layer on the remaining portions of said first and second layers, the composition of said third layer being essentially identical to that of said second layer.