JP2012212748A - Semiconductor laser - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a semiconductor laser that has excellent temperature characteristics and can perform high-speed modulation.SOLUTION: In a semiconductor laser using a semiconductor quantum well structure on an InP substrate as an active layer, a well layer contains any of InGaAsP, InAsP, or InGaAs not containing Sb, and a barrier layer contains InGaPSb or InGaAsPSb containing Sb. Since only the barrier layer contains Sb, the band discontinuity of the valence band can be reduced, compared to a conventional material even if the band discontinuity of the conduction band is increased, so that the occurrence of a non-uniform distribution of holes and electrons in increasing the number of well layers can be avoided, thereby improving temperature characteristics and achieving high-speed modulation.

Description

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor laser used in an optical communication system.

  In recent years, with the progress of multimedia technologies such as the Internet, the traffic volume of communication networks is rapidly increasing. In order to cope with this sudden increase in traffic volume, the importance of optical modules capable of high-speed modulation is increasing.

Among communication networks, optical modules used in metro access networks are required to be low in price and low in power consumption. In order to satisfy this requirement, it is desired that the semiconductor laser serving as the light source of the optical module does not require temperature adjustment and can be directly modulated at a high speed.
Specifically, even if the operating temperature rises, it is desirable to use a semiconductor laser with good temperature characteristics, in which the increase in oscillation threshold current is small and the decrease in optical output is small, and more than 10 Gbps can be achieved only by modulating the injection current. A semiconductor laser that can be directly modulated at speed is desirable.

  In this metro access network, the wavelength band currently used or possibly used in the future is the optical communication in the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T). Among the recommended wavelength bands (O-band, E-band, S-band, C-band, L-band, U-band), this is the wavelength band excluding the U band used for optical fiber monitoring light. Specifically, the wavelength is from 1.260 μm to 1.625 μm.

  In order to improve temperature characteristics and modulation speed in a semiconductor laser, it is known that a quantum well structure is more effective than a bulk structure as an active layer. Conventionally, a material composed of In, Ga, As, and P (hereinafter referred to as an InGaAsP material system) has been used as a material constituting a quantum well structure in a semiconductor laser. In recent years, materials containing Al such as InGaAlAs and InAlAs (hereinafter referred to as InGaAlAs material system) have also been used.

An effective means for enabling high speed modulation in a semiconductor laser is to increase the differential gain of the quantum well active layer. In order to increase the differential gain, it is necessary to efficiently confine electrons that are small in effective mass and easily leak from the well layer in the well layer. Improving the confinement of electrons in the well layer is also effective in improving the temperature characteristics of the semiconductor laser because leakage of electrons from the well layer accompanying an increase in operating temperature can be suppressed.
In order to improve the confinement of electrons in the well layer, it is necessary to increase the energy difference at the lowest point at the Γ point of each conduction band of the well layer and the barrier layer. This energy difference is generally referred to as band discontinuity in the conduction band. By increasing the band discontinuity in the conduction band, it is possible to improve both the temperature characteristics of the semiconductor laser and high-speed modulation.

In order to improve the temperature characteristics and high-speed modulation of semiconductor lasers, it is effective to increase the number of well layers in the quantum well structure, which is the active layer, in addition to improving the confinement of electrons in the well layer. Yes (see Non-Patent Document 1, for example).
Specifically, the laser characteristics can be improved by changing the active layer from a single quantum well structure having only one well layer to a multiple quantum well structure having two or more well layers. One reason for this is that by increasing the number of well layers, it is possible to reduce the electron density required for laser oscillation in each well layer, and as a result, leakage of electrons from the well layer can be suppressed. It is.

K. Uomi et al., "Dependence of high-speed properties on the number of quantum wells in 1.55μm InGaAs-InGaAsP MQW λ / 4-shifted DFB lasers," IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 29, No. 2, 1993, 355-360. S.R.Forrest et al., "Relationship between the conduction-band discontinuities and band-gap differences of InGaAsP / InP heterojunctions," Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 45, No. 11, 1984, 1199-1201. A. Kasukawa et al., "InAsP / InGaP all-ternary strain-compensated multiple quantum wells and their application to long-wavelength lasers," Japanese Jourrnal of Applied Physics, Vol. 34, Part 2, No. 8A, 1995, L965 -L967. A. Hangleiter et al., "Damping of the relaxation resonance in multiple-quantum-well lasers by slow interwell transport," Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 62, No. 19, 1993, 2316-2318. CE Zah et al., "High-performance uncooled 1.3-μm AlxGayIn1-x-yAs / InP strained-layer quantum-well lasers for subscriber loop applications," IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 30, No. 2, 1994, 511-523. Y. Matsui et al., "Enhanced modulation bandwidth for strain-compensated InGaAlAs-InGaAsP MQW lasers," IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 34, No. 10, 1998, 1970-1978. T. Tsuchiya et al., "In-situ etching of InP and InGaAlAs materials by using HCl gas in metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy," Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol. 272, 2004, 125-130. J. O. McCaldin et al., "Correlation for III-V and II-VI semiconductors of the Au schottky barrier energy with anion electronegativity," Physical Review Letters, Vol. 36, No. 1, 1976, 56-58. SH. Wei et al., "Calculated natural band offsets of all II-VI and III-V semiconductors: chemical trends and the role of cation d orbitals," Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 72, No. 161, 1998, 2011- 2013. C. G. Van de Walle, "Band lineups and deformation potentials in the model-solid theory," Physical Review B, Vol. 39, No. 3, 1989, 1871-1883. C. Silfvenius et al., "Design, growth and performance of different QW structures for improved 1300 nm InGaAsP lasers," Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol. 195, 1998, 700-705.

  As described above, in order to realize a semiconductor laser having good temperature characteristics and capable of high-speed modulation regardless of whether the InGaAsP material system or InGaAlAs material system is used, the band discontinuity in the conduction band is increased, and the active layer and It is effective to increase the number of well layers of the quantum well structure. However, regardless of whether the InGaAsP material system or the InGaAlAs material system is used for the active layer, there are the following problems.

  First, the problems when using the InGaAsP material system are described. In order to increase the band discontinuity in the conduction band, it is necessary to increase the band gap of the barrier layer. However, when the InGaAsP material system is used, the valence band band discontinuity increases more than the conduction band band discontinuity increases. This is because the ratio of the valence band discontinuity to the conduction band discontinuity is about 3: 2, and the valence band discontinuity is larger in the quantum well structure using the InGaAsP material system. This is because the ratio hardly changes even if the composition of group III or group V of the well layer and the barrier layer is changed (see Non-Patent Document 2).

Holes have a larger effective mass than electrons and are difficult to move between well layers. Therefore, in a multiple quantum well structure having a large valence band discontinuity, the density distribution of injected holes is high in the well layer close to the p-side optical confinement layer and close to the n-side optical confinement layer. Lower in the well layer. In this state, even if laser oscillation can be performed, hole consumption mainly occurs in the well layer near the p-side optical confinement layer where stimulated emission occurs, and stimulated emission occurs in the well layer near the n-side optical confinement layer. It is difficult to increase the hole density until it occurs.
On the other hand, since the electrons are distributed so as to satisfy the electrical neutral condition in the multiple quantum well structure, the density thereof is also non-uniform.
FIG. 6 schematically shows the state of the uneven distribution of holes and electrons.

  In such a situation where holes and electrons are unevenly distributed, the active layer region close to the n-side optical confinement layer is more light-absorbing than light-emitting, and the temperature characteristics of the laser deteriorate. For this reason, in a multiple quantum well laser using an InGaAsP material system, if the band gap of the barrier layer is made too large, the band discontinuity in the valence band increases, so the laser temperature characteristics deteriorate. There is a problem (for example, see Non-Patent Document 3 as an example of laser characteristics).

  Furthermore, in a multiple quantum well laser with a large band discontinuity in the valence band, it takes a long time for holes to move between the wells, so it is difficult to perform high-speed modulation even if the number of well layers is increased. There is also a problem (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1 and Non-Patent Document 4).

  On the other hand, in the multiple quantum well using InGaAlAs material system, even if the band gap of the barrier layer is increased, the band discontinuity of the conduction band can be made larger than the valence band, unlike the case of the InGaAsP material system. is there. This is due to the difference in material characteristics. The ratio of band discontinuity between the valence band and the conduction band is about 3: 2 when using the InGaAsP material system as described above, whereas InGaAlAs. When the material system is used, it is about 3: 7 (see Non-Patent Document 5).

FIG. 7 shows the band discontinuity change between the conduction band and the valence band when the band gap of the barrier layer is made larger than that of the well layer. When ΔE _c is obtained as a band discontinuity in the conduction band in FIG. 7, the band discontinuity in the valence band becomes ΔE _{v, 1 in} the quantum well structure using the InGaAsP material system, but in the case of the InGaAlAs material system The band discontinuity ΔE _{v, 2} is about 2/7 as large as ΔE _{v, 1} . For this reason, in the multiple quantum well structure using the InGaAlAs material system, it is relatively easy to uniformly distribute holes and electrons in each well layer even if the number of well layers is increased.

  FIG. 8 shows an ideal situation in which electrons and holes are uniformly distributed in a multi-quantum well laser. In a multi-quantum well laser using the InGaAlAs material system, compared to the case where the InGaAsP material system is used. It is easy to realize such a situation. Therefore, the multiple quantum well laser using the InGaAlAs material system has better temperature characteristics than the multiple quantum well laser using the InGaAsP system, and it is easy to increase the differential gain by increasing the number of well layers. (For examples of lasers, see Non-Patent Document 5 and Non-Patent Document 6, for example).

  Thus, a multiple quantum well laser using an InGaAlAs material system has better temperature characteristics than an InGaAsP material system, and it is easy to realize a laser capable of high-speed modulation.

However, a material containing Al forms a stable oxide film on the surface, and there is a problem caused by this oxide film. Specifically, an oxide film formed on the surface of a material containing Al causes deterioration of the end face of the laser, so that it is difficult to obtain stable laser characteristics for a long period of time.
Further, in the laser using a material containing Al, the production of the laser structure is also restricted due to this oxide film. For example, in a laser using an InGaAsP material system, the width of the active layer is processed to about 1 to 2 μm and InP is regrown on both sides to improve the controllability of the transverse mode and the ease of the electrode process. It is common to use a type laser structure. However, in the case of a material containing Al, it is difficult to remove the oxide film described above, and it is difficult to re-grow, so that there is a restriction on the fabrication of the laser structure such that it is difficult to fabricate an embedded laser structure (for example, Non-Patent Document 7 reference).

  As described above, to achieve a semiconductor laser with good temperature characteristics and capable of direct modulation at high speed, a multiple quantum well structure using either an InGaAsP material system or an InGaAlAs material system is used as the active layer of the laser. Even in this case, there was a problem due to the characteristics of each material system.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and as a light source of an optical module used in a metro access network where the traffic volume of a communication network increases rapidly, a semiconductor laser having good temperature characteristics and capable of high-speed modulation. The main purpose is provision.

A semiconductor laser according to a first invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is as follows.
In a semiconductor laser having a semiconductor quantum well structure on an InP substrate as an active layer, the semiconductor quantum well structure includes InGaAsP, InAsP, or InGaAs as a well layer, and the barrier layer includes InGaPSb or InGaAsPSb.
A semiconductor laser according to a second invention for solving the above-described problems is as follows.
2. The semiconductor laser according to claim 1, wherein the number of the well layers included in the active layer is two or more.
A semiconductor laser according to a third invention for solving the above-mentioned problem is as follows.
The semiconductor laser according to claim 1, wherein an oscillation wavelength is between 1.260 μm and 1.625 μm.
A semiconductor laser according to a fourth invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is as follows.
2. The semiconductor laser according to claim 1, wherein the barrier layer included in the active layer has a Sb composition in a group V element in a range larger than 0 and smaller than 0.5.

  According to the present invention, in a laser having an active layer having a multiple quantum well structure on an InP substrate, the well layer uses any one of InGaAsP, InAsP, and InGaAs that does not contain Sb, and the barrier layer contains InGaPSb that contains Sb, By using either InGaAsPSb, even if the band discontinuity of the conduction band is increased, the band discontinuity of the valence band can be reduced as compared with the multiple quantum well structure using the InGaAsP material system. For this reason, it is necessary to avoid the generation of non-uniform distribution of holes and electrons when the number of well layers in question is increased in a multiple quantum well laser using an InGaAsP material system with a large band gap as a barrier layer. it can. As a result, the multi-quantum well structure that uses this Sb-containing material as the barrier layer is used as the laser active layer, which makes it easier to achieve improved temperature characteristics and faster modulation than when using the InGaAsP material system for the barrier layer. become.

  Furthermore, since the active layer does not contain Al, even if the surface of the active layer is exposed to the atmosphere, a stable oxide film like the InGaAlAs material system is not formed, and its removal is easy. As a result, as with the InGaAsP material system, it is easy to fabricate an embedded laser, etc., and the long-term reliability caused by the oxide film on the end face is also greater than that using the InGaAlAs material system. Small.

It is a block diagram which shows the multiple quantum well structure which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a characteristic view which compares and shows the photoluminescence emission spectrum of the multiple quantum well structure using the InGaPSb barrier layer of embodiment of this invention, and the multiple quantum well structure using the conventional InGaAsP barrier layer. It is a block diagram which shows the layer structure of the semiconductor laser which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the characteristic view which showed the relationship between the injection current and optical output of the semiconductor laser [test body 1] which concerns on embodiment of this invention according to temperature. It is the characteristic view which showed the relationship of the injection current and optical output of the semiconductor laser [test body 2] concerning embodiment of this invention according to temperature. It is the schematic diagram which showed typically a mode that the electron and the hole were distributed unevenly in the semiconductor laser which uses the multiple quantum well structure with a band discontinuity of a big valence band as an active layer. It is the figure which showed the change of the band discontinuity of the valence band with respect to the band discontinuity in a conduction band about the quantum well using InGaAsP material and the quantum well using InGaAlAs system material. It is the schematic diagram which showed a mode that the electron and the hole were uniformly distributed in the multiple quantum well laser as an ideal situation. It is a figure for demonstrating the band discontinuity in a quantum well structure. Based on the calculation results of Non-Patent Document 9, a characteristic diagram showing the relative positional relationship of InP to the energy of the top of the valence band of a binary mixed crystal containing P, As, and Sb in the V group element is there. In a strain-compensated quantum well structure with a compressive strained InGaAsP well layer and a tensile strained InGaAsP barrier layer, the distortion of the conduction band and the valence band changes when the As composition is changed with the strain of the InGaAsP barrier layer being constant. FIG. FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing changes in band gap wavelength when the As composition of an InGaAsP barrier layer and the Sb composition of an InGaPSb barrier layer are changed in a strain compensated quantum well structure in which a compressive strain InGaAsP is used as a well layer. In a strain-compensated quantum well structure with a compressive strained InGaAsP well layer and a tensile strained InGaPSb barrier layer, changes in the conduction band and valence band discontinuity when the strain of the InGaPSb barrier layer is constant and the Sb composition is changed FIG. In the strain compensated quantum well structure using a compressive strain InGaAsP as a well layer, it is a characteristic diagram comparing the band discontinuity change of the valence band with respect to the conduction band when InGaAsP and InGaPSb are used for the barrier layer. In a strain compensated quantum well structure with a compressive strained InAsP well layer and a tensile strained InGaPSb barrier layer, the band discontinuity changes in the conduction band and valence band when the strain of the InGaPSb barrier layer is constant and the Sb composition is changed FIG. In a strained quantum well structure in which compressive strained InGaAsP is a well layer and InGaPSb that is lattice-matched to InP is a barrier layer, conduction band and valence band when the Sb composition is changed with the InGaPSb barrier layer lattice-matched It is the characteristic view which showed the change of discontinuity. It is a characteristic figure showing change of band gap wavelength to Sb composition in GaPSb on an InP substrate.

  The present invention focuses on the problems of semiconductor multi-quantum well lasers using InGaAsP material systems and InGaAlAs material systems according to the prior art, and has good temperature characteristics, high-speed modulation, and stable long-term reliability. The object is to provide a well laser.

In order to solve the above-described problems, in the semiconductor laser according to the present invention, as the active layer of the multiple quantum well laser using InP as a substrate, the well layer uses any one of InGaAsP, InAsP, and InGaAs that does not contain Sb. However, either InGaPSb or InGaAsPSb containing Sb is used for the barrier layer. The well layer does not contain Sb, and by using a material containing Sb only in the barrier layer, it is possible to avoid the uneven distribution of holes and electrons, which is a problem of the multiple quantum well laser using the InGaAsP material system. it can.
Also, because the well layer and barrier layer do not contain Al, it is easy to remove the oxide film, which leads to fabrication restrictions and long-term reliability caused by the oxide film as in the case of using the InGaAlAs material system. The influence of can also be avoided.

  So far, most of the semiconductor lasers based on materials containing Sb have been applied to the mid-infrared wavelength region where the oscillation wavelength is 2 μm or more, and the optical communication wavelength from 1.260 μm to 1.625 μm, which is the object of the present invention. There were few things applied to the belt. Even in an example in which a material system containing Sb is applied to a laser for optical communication, most of the purposes are to increase the oscillation wavelength by adding Sb to the well layer, and Sb is not added to the well layer as in the present invention. There was no idea to improve the temperature characteristics and modulation characteristics of the laser by adding Sb only to the barrier layer.

  The reason why the non-uniform distribution of holes and electrons can be avoided by using a material containing Sb only for the barrier layer of the present invention is that the band discontinuity in the valence band can be reduced compared to the case of using the InGaAsP material system. Because.

  The reason why the band discontinuity in the quantum well structure and the band discontinuity in the valence band can be reduced by including Sb only in the barrier layer will be described below.

FIG. 9 shows band discontinuity in the quantum well structure, and ΔE _v and ΔE _c in the figure are band discontinuities of the valence band and the conduction band, respectively. ΔE _v and ΔE _c can be expressed as follows using the energy of the top of the valence band and the band gap for the barrier layer and the well layer, respectively.
ΔE _v = E _{v, well} − E _{v, barrier} (1)
ΔE _c = (E _{v, barrier} + E _{g, barrier} ) − (E _{v, well} + E _{g, well} ) (2)

Where E _{v, baiier} and E _{v, well} are the energy at the top of the valence band of the barrier layer and well layer, respectively, and E _{g, barrier} and E _{g, well} are the band gaps of the barrier layer and well layer, respectively. is there. Strictly speaking, ΔE _v and ΔE _c need to take into account changes in the band structure due to strain stress and the influence of quantum levels, but the approximate value of the band discontinuity is obtained from equations (1) and (2). be able to.
From equation (1), band discontinuity of the valence band can be obtained. In III-V semiconductor mixed crystals, when the same group V element is included, it has been experimentally found that the energy at the top of the valence band is almost the same (referred to as a common anion rule) (See Patent Document 8). Furthermore, the energy at the top of the valence band can be estimated by calculation, and it is known that, as in the experiment, if the V group elements included are the same, they almost coincide (for example, Non-Patent Document 9). See).

  FIG. 10 shows the relative energy of the peak energy at the Γ point of the valence band to InP for a binary mixed crystal containing P, As, and Sb as group V elements based on the results of [Non-Patent Document 9] It is the figure which showed the position. From this figure, it can be seen that the energy at the top of the valence band is almost equal if the group V elements contained are the same regardless of whether the group III element contained is In or Ga.

On the other hand, the energy of this peak varies greatly depending on the group V elements (P, As, Sb) contained, and increases in the order of (crystal containing Sb)> (crystal containing As)> (crystal containing P). . Therefore, in the case of a III-V semiconductor mixed crystal containing In and Ga as group III elements, the energy at the top of the valence band can be increased by adding Sb as a group V element. Therefore, the use of a material containing Sb for the barrier layer can solve the problem caused by the band discontinuity of the valence band in the InGaAsP material system as described above.
Note that FIG. 10 is an example of calculating the energy at the top of the valence band of a binary mixed crystal. By applying a calculation method called Model-solid-theory, valence electrons can be obtained for a mixed crystal of ternary or higher. The energy at the top of the belt can be obtained (see Non-Patent Document 10).

  Next, using this model-solid-theory, when the band discontinuities in the conduction band are equal, using InGaPSb containing Sb as the V group element for the barrier layer, the valence band is higher than when using the InGaAsP barrier layer. This shows that the band discontinuity can be reduced.

First, the case of an InGaAsP material system will be described as a comparative example. FIG. 11 shows a strain compensated quantum well structure in which lattice strains in opposite directions are applied to the InGaAsP barrier layer and the InGaAsP well layer so that the strain stress of the whole quantum well structure becomes zero, and the As composition of the barrier layer is changed. The band discontinuity changes between the conduction band (electrons) and the valence band (heavy holes, light holes) are shown.
The InGaAsP well layer has a lattice strain of + 0.72% (compression strain) with respect to InP, a film thickness of 10 nm, and a constant composition. On the other hand, the InGaAsP barrier layer has a lattice strain of -0.72% (tensile strain) for InP, a film thickness of 10 nm, and is made of a group III element so that the lattice strain for InP is constant even when the As composition is changed. The composition of certain In and Ga is changed.

  FIG. 11 also shows the band discontinuity related to the first level of electrons, heavy holes, and light holes in the well layer, including changes in band structure due to strain stress and effects due to quantum levels. Since compressive strain is applied to the well layer, heavy holes in the valence band are closer to the conduction band than light holes. Therefore, light emitted from the well layer mainly has a wavelength (referred to as a band gap wavelength) corresponding to energy at which electrons transition from the first level of the conduction band to the first level of heavy holes in the valence band. .

  FIG. 12 shows the relationship between the band gap wavelength and the As composition of the InGaAsP barrier layer, and the wavelength remains approximately 1.3 μm even when the As composition is changed.

  From FIG. 11, it can be seen that the change curves due to the band discontinuous As composition regarding the conduction band (electrons) and the valence band (heavy holes) are almost parallel to each other. This means that in a quantum well structure using an InGaAsP material system for the barrier layer, the difference in the band discontinuity between the conduction band and the valence band hardly changes regardless of how the As composition of the barrier layer is changed. To do.

  In order to improve laser characteristics, it is desirable that the band discontinuity in the conduction band is large and the band discontinuity in the valence band is small. However, when the InGaAsP barrier layer is used, increasing the band discontinuity in the conduction band increases the band discontinuity in the valence band, while reducing the band discontinuity in the valence band decreases the band discontinuity in the conduction band. Get smaller. In the laser structure, the former causes non-uniform distribution of holes and electrons, and the latter causes leakage of the electron well layer. For this reason, when an InGaAsP barrier layer is used, it is difficult to improve laser characteristics only by changing the composition of the barrier layer.

  Next, examples of the present invention will be shown. FIG. 13 shows a band discontinuity between the conduction band (electrons) and the valence band (heavy holes) when the Sb composition of the barrier layer is changed in the strain compensated quantum well structure using InGaPSb according to the present invention as the barrier layer. Shows changes. As in the case of FIG. 11, the well layer is InGaAsP having a lattice strain of + 0.72% with respect to InP and a film thickness of 10 nm. For the InGaPSb barrier layer, the lattice strain for InP is constant even when the Sb composition is changed with the same lattice strain (-0.72%) and film thickness (10 nm) for InP as in the case of the InGaAsP barrier layer in FIG. In addition, the composition of group III elements In and Ga is changed. As shown in FIG. 12, even when this InGaPSb barrier layer is used, the emission wavelength from the well layer is approximately 1.3 μm.

  FIG. 13 shows that when the Sb composition of the InGaPSb barrier layer is increased, the band discontinuity of the valence band (heavy holes) monotonously decreases. On the other hand, the band discontinuity of the conduction band is different from the case of the InGaAsP barrier layer, and it can be seen that when the Sb composition is increased, the decrease rate with respect to the Sb composition becomes smaller and then increases. Based on the result of FIG. 13 and the result of FIG. 11 using the InGaAsP barrier layer described above, the use of the InGaPSb barrier layer reduces the band discontinuity of the valence band compared to the case of using the InGaAsP barrier layer. Show what you can do.

FIG. 14 shows the change of the valence band discontinuity with respect to the conduction band discontinuity based on the results of FIG. 11 and FIG. From this figure, it is understood that when the band discontinuities in the conduction band are equal, the band discontinuity in the valence band is smaller when the InGaPSb barrier layer is used than when the InGaAsP barrier layer is used.
For example, in FIG. 14, when the conduction band discontinuity is 80 meV, the band discontinuity of the valence band is 160 meV when the InGaAsP barrier layer is used, whereas when the InGaPSb barrier layer is used. 125 meV.

  In a laser, the valence band discontinuous energy that generates a non-uniform distribution of holes varies depending on the number of well layers, barrier layer thickness, laser device structure, operating temperature, etc. Is difficult. However, there is also a report that non-uniform distribution of holes occurs when the band discontinuity of the valence band is 130 meV or more due to degradation of laser characteristics (see Non-Patent Document 11). As shown in FIG. 14, if the InGaPSb barrier layer is used, it is possible to reduce only the valence band discontinuity without changing the band discontinuity of the conduction band. Since the hole is easy to be confined in the well layer even if the thickness is small, the laser characteristics are improved, but there are few causes for deterioration.

  In addition, the laser of this patent uses a well layer of InGaAsP material system other than the barrier layer, and furthermore, the influence of the oxide film in the barrier layer is small unlike the InGaAlAs material system. For example, there are many parts where the conventional semiconductor laser technology using InGaAsP material-based multiple quantum well active layers can be used.

  For these reasons, the use of this patent makes it easy to improve the temperature characteristics of a semiconductor laser for optical communication and realize high-speed modulation.

  FIG. 13 shows the results for a strain compensated quantum well structure using InGaAsP having compressive strain in the well layer and InGaPSb having tensile strain in the barrier layer. If Sb is not included in the well layer, it is included in the barrier layer. This patent is effective even if the composition and lattice strain of the InGaPSb barrier layer are changed, or the well layer is changed from InGaAsP to InAsP or InGaAs. As an example, it is shown that this patent is effective even if the well layer is changed from InGaAsP to InAsP.

  FIG. 15 shows the conduction band (electron) and valence band (heavy hole) when the Sb composition of the InGaPSb barrier layer is changed in a quantum well structure using InAsP instead of InGaAsP in FIG. The band discontinuity change is shown. The InAsP well layer has a lattice strain of + 1.45% for InP and a film thickness of 10 nm. The band gap wavelength corresponding to the energy difference between the first level of electrons and the first level of heavy holes is approximately 1.3 μm. On the other hand, the InGaPSb barrier layer has a lattice strain with respect to InP of −0.72% and a film thickness of 10 nm as in FIG. 13, and a group III element such that the lattice mismatch with InP is constant even when the Sb composition is changed. The composition ratio of In and Ga is changed.

  In the case of using the InAsP well layer of FIG. 15, the band discontinuity of the valence band (heavy hole) is monotonous as the Sb composition of the InGaPSb barrier layer increases as in the case of using the InGaAsP well layer of FIG. To decrease. On the other hand, regarding the band discontinuity with respect to the conduction band (electrons) when using the InAsP well layer, as with the case of using the InGaAsP well layer, the decrease rate with respect to the Sb composition decreases as the Sb composition increases. It starts to increase. Therefore, even when InAsP is used for the well layer instead of InGaAsP, the band discontinuity of the valence band can be reduced as in the case of using the InGaAsP well layer shown in FIG. In other words, if a material that does not contain Sb is used for the well layer and a material that contains Sb for the barrier layer, the temperature characteristics of the laser can be improved and high-speed modulation can be realized even if the composition of the well layer is changed as in this example. It becomes easy.

  Further, this patent is effective even when the lattice strain of the barrier layer changes. This will be described using an example of a barrier layer lattice-matched to InP.

  FIG. 16 shows the conduction band (electrons) and valence when the Sb composition of the InGaPSb barrier layer is changed in a quantum well structure using InGaPSb lattice-matched to InP instead of the InGaPSb barrier layer having tensile strain shown in FIG. The band discontinuity change of the electron band (heavy hole) is shown. As in the case of FIG. 13, the well layer is InGaAsP having a lattice strain of + 0.72% with respect to InP and a film thickness of 10 nm. On the other hand, the film thickness of the InGaPSb barrier layer lattice-matched to InP is 10 nm, but it is lattice-matched to InP, and the group III elements In and Ga so as to maintain the lattice matching conditions even when the Sb composition is changed. The composition ratio is changed. In the case of using the InGaPSb barrier layer lattice-matched to InP, as in the case of using the InGaPSb barrier layer having tensile strain in FIG. 13, the band discontinuity for heavy holes is increased by increasing the Sb composition of the InGaPSb barrier layer. Decreases monotonously.

  On the other hand, regarding the band discontinuity with respect to the conduction band (electrons), the decrease rate with respect to the Sb composition decreases as the Sb composition increases, as in the case of using the tensile strained InGaPSb barrier layer, and then increases. . For this reason, in the case of using the InGaPSb barrier layer lattice-matched to InP in FIG. 16, as in the case of using the InGaPSb barrier layer having tensile strain shown in FIG. 13, compared to the case of using the InGaAsP barrier layer. This makes it easier to improve the temperature characteristics of the laser and realize high-speed modulation.

  As described above, as shown in FIGS. 13 to 15, in the semiconductor laser according to the present invention, the effect of improving the laser characteristics can be obtained as long as the barrier layer contains Sb and the lower limit of the Sb composition is 0 or more.

  On the other hand, regarding the upper limit of the Sb composition of the InGaPSb barrier layer, it is necessary that the light emitted from the well layer is not absorbed by the InGaPSb barrier layer. Specifically, since the present invention relates to a semiconductor laser for optical communication, it is necessary to make the band gap wavelength of the InGaPSb barrier layer shorter than the wavelength used in optical communication. The band gap wavelength of InGaPSb becomes shorter as the In composition is decreased, and GaPSb having the In composition of 0 has the shortest band gap wavelength. If the band gap wavelength of this GaPSb is shorter than the wavelength used in optical communication, the absorption of light emitted from the well layer in the InGaPSb barrier layer can be reduced.

  FIG. 17 shows the change of the band gap wavelength for GaPSb depending on the Sb composition. Since the band gap wavelength in FIG. 17 considers the change in the band structure due to strain stress, the band gap wavelength is between the conduction band and the valence band (heavy hole) and between the conduction band and the valence band (light hole). Different between. Since the wavelength region that is the subject of the present invention is from 1.260 μm to 1.625 μm, light having a wavelength of 1.26 μm is not absorbed if the Sb composition is at least 0.5 or less from FIG. For this reason, if the Sb composition of the InGaPSb barrier layer is set in a range larger than 0 and smaller than 0.5, absorption of light emitted from the well layer in the InGaPSb barrier layer can be reduced.

  In the examples so far, the case where InGaPSb is used as the barrier layer has been described. The present invention improves the laser characteristics by making the active layer a multi-quantum well structure using a material system that does not contain Sb in the well layer and a material system that contains Sb in the barrier layer. The layer may be any material that contains Sb and does not contain Al from which the oxide film can be easily removed. Needless to say, the same effect can be obtained when InGaAsPSb is used for the barrier layer instead of InGaPSb.

Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be shown, and the modes will be described with reference to the drawings according to the embodiments.
First, in the quantum well structure used in the semiconductor laser according to the present invention, by adding Sb of the barrier layer, the band discontinuity of the conduction band increases, so that the confinement of electrons in the well layer becomes stronger, and the full width at half maximum (full It shows that a photoluminescence (PL) emission spectrum having a narrow width at half maximum (FWHM) can be obtained (FIGS. 1 and 2). Next, an example of a laser using this quantum well structure is shown (FIGS. 3 to 5).

  The PL emission spectrum from the quantum well varies greatly depending on the density of states of electrons, and in order to obtain an emission peak with a small half-value width, the band discontinuity of the conduction band is increased and the confinement of electrons in the well layer is strengthened. Is more advantageous. In order to confirm the effect of this patent from the PL emission spectrum, a multi-quantum well structure using InGaPSb and conventional InGaAsP is fabricated in the barrier layer, and the peak half-value widths of the PL emission spectrum are compared.

FIG. 1 shows a multiple quantum well structure used for comparison. Organic metal using trimethylindium (TMIn), triethylgallium (TEGa) as group III source gas, and phosphine (PH ₃ ), arsine (AsH ₃ ), trisdimethylaminoantimony (TDMASb) as group V source gas Molecular beam epitaxy is used.

  Specifically, an undoped InP 2 having a thickness of 0.2 μm is grown on the n-type InP substrate 1, and then a multiple quantum well structure 5 composed of an InGaPSb barrier layer 3 and an InGaAsP well layer 4 is grown, and finally a thickness of 0.1 μm. An undoped InP6 is grown. The number of well layers in the multiple quantum well structure 5 is ten.

The substrate temperature during growth is 530 ° C. for the multiple quantum well structure 5 and 505 ° C. for the other layers. The InGaAsP well layer 4 has a lattice strain of + 1.58% with respect to InP and a film thickness of 6.0 nm. The InGaPSb barrier layer 3 has a lattice strain with respect to InP of −0.6% and a film thickness of 10.5 nm. The InGaPSb barrier layer 3 was examined for [Sample 1] having an Sb composition of 2.6% and [Sample 2] having an Sb composition of 3.6% by changing the supply amount of trisdimethylaminoantimony as an Sb raw material. The band gap wavelength of the InGaPSb barrier layer 3 is 1.0 μm when the Sb composition is 2.6% and 1.1 μm when the Sb composition is 3.6%.
For comparison, the barrier layer has InGaAsP (lattice strain of -0.6%, film thickness is 10.5 nm, band gap wavelength is 1.1 μm), and the well layer has the same composition and film thickness as [Sample 1] and [Sample 2]. [Sample 3] having InGaAsP of 1 is prepared.

PL measurement is performed under the condition of high excitation density (460 W / cm ² ) using a laser with a wavelength of 532 nm as the excitation light and realizing a carrier density close to laser oscillation.
FIG. 2 shows PL emission spectra of the produced [Sample 1] to [Sample 3]. Although the normalized PL emission intensity is used on the vertical axis, the difference in emission intensity between actual samples is within ± 10%, and there is almost no difference in emission intensity. The peak width at half maximum of the PL emission spectrum is 31 meV in [Sample 1] and [Sample 2] using InGaPSb for the barrier layer, and 35 meV in [Sample 3] using InGaAsP for the barrier layer. is there. Thus, the peak half-value width of the PL emission spectrum can be reduced by changing the barrier layer from InGaAsP to InGaPSb. Since the composition and film thickness of the well layer are the same for all the samples in FIG. 2, the difference in the half-value width of the peak of PL emission is due to the barrier layer. That is, in the sample using the InGaPSb barrier layer, the band discontinuity of the conduction band is larger than that in the sample using the InGaAsP barrier layer, so that electrons can be confined more strongly in the well layer, and as a result, PL emission with a narrow half-value width is achieved. It can be seen that a peak is obtained.

  As described above, by examining the PL emission spectrum, it is possible to confirm an increase in the band discontinuity of the conduction band by changing the barrier layer from InGaAsP to InGaPSb. This increase in band discontinuity in the conduction band is effective in suppressing leakage of electrons from the well layer in the quantum well laser as described above, so it is easy to improve the temperature characteristics of the laser and realize high-speed modulation. It is to make.

  In this example, the case where the metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy method was used as a method for forming a quantum well structure was described, but the present invention is characterized in that the barrier layer contains Sb and the well layer does not contain Sb. Therefore, as long as the above-described quantum well structure can be manufactured, the manufacturing method is effective even when other growth methods such as a metal organic vapor phase epitaxy method and a molecular beam epitaxy method are used. Absent.

Next, an embodiment of the semiconductor laser according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, the layer structure of the semiconductor laser according to the present invention will be described with reference to the sectional view of FIG. In the semiconductor laser according to the present invention, first, an n-type InP buffer layer 8 having a thickness of 0.5 μm was grown on an n-type InP substrate 7 as shown in FIG. Subsequently, after growing an InGaAsP layer 9 having a film thickness of 0.1 μm and a band gap wavelength of 1.0 μm, a multiple quantum well structure 10 composed of 10 InAsP well layers and 11 InGaPSb barrier layers is grown thereon. An InGaAsP layer 11 having a thickness of 0.1 μm and a band gap wavelength of 1.0 μm and a p-type InP layer 12 having a thickness of 1.5 μm were grown. Finally, a p-type InGaAs layer 13 was grown on the p-type InP layer 12.

The InAsP well layer constituting the multiple quantum well structure 10 has a lattice strain of + 1.63% with respect to InP, a film thickness of 5 nm, and the peak wavelength of PL emission at room temperature is approximately 1.3 μm.
On the other hand, as the InGaPSb barrier layer constituting the multi-quantum well structure 10, two samples having InGaPSb barrier layers having different Sb compositions whose Sb compositions are 2.6% [test body 1] and 3.6% [test body 2] are examined. . Both of these InGaPSb barrier layers have a lattice strain with respect to InP of −0.60% and a film thickness of 10.5 nm.
For growth, a metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy method is used, and the substrate temperature during growth is 530 ° C. for the InGaAsP layer 9, the multiple quantum well structure 10, and the InGaAsP layer 11, and 500 ° C. for the other layers.

The p-type electrode 14 is formed by depositing a silicon oxide film on the front surface of the wafer, removing the silicon oxide film having a width of 40 μm in a stripe shape, and then depositing a metal on the stripe-like region in the p-type InGaAs layer 13. And formed by heat treatment.
The n-type electrode 15 is formed by thinly polishing the n-type InP substrate 7, depositing a metal on the n-type InP substrate 7, and then performing heat treatment.
The laser structure is a Fabry-Perot laser in which a resonator is formed by cleavage, and the resonator length is 600 μm.

4 and 5 show the relationship between the injection current and the light output when the Sb composition is 2.6% [test body 1] and the Sb composition is 3.6% [test body 2], respectively, when pulse driving is performed at different operating temperatures. Show. The threshold current density at an operating temperature of 15 ° C. is 1.33 kA / cm ² for [Sample 1] and 1.05 kA / cm ² for [Sample 2], and is a multi-quantum well laser using an InGaAsP material system. It is equivalent.
For evaluation of temperature characteristics in a semiconductor laser, a parameter generally called characteristic temperature is used. The characteristic temperature can be obtained from the following equation by measuring the temperature change of the threshold current.
J _th = J ₀ exp (T / T ₀ )
Here, J _th is the threshold current density at the operating temperature T ₁ , J ₀ is a constant, and T ₀ is the characteristic temperature.

From this equation, the larger this T _{0, the} smaller the increase in threshold current density with respect to the increase in operating temperature, and the better the temperature characteristics of the laser. The characteristic temperatures of [Test body 1] and [Test body 2] using the InGaPSb barrier layer are estimated to be 80.6 K and 73.0 K from FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively.

On the other hand, the characteristic temperature of the multiple quantum well laser generally used for the InGaAsP barrier layer is as low as about 50K. That is, it can be seen that the temperature characteristics of the semiconductor laser can be improved by using the InGaPSb barrier layer compared to the case of using the InGaAsP barrier layer.
The reason why the laser temperature characteristics are improved by using this InGaPSb barrier layer is that the band discontinuity of the conduction band can be increased and the band of the valence band can be increased compared to the case of using the InGaAsP barrier layer as described above. This is because the discontinuity can be reduced. Both of these enable high-speed modulation of the laser, and if the laser structure of this patent is used, it is easy to manufacture a laser capable of direct modulation at high speed.

In this example, the case of a multiple quantum well laser using InAsP as a well layer and InGaPSb as a barrier layer and having an oscillation wavelength of 1.3 μm has been described, but the embodiment is not limited to the above-described configuration. Can be changed.
That is, depending on the oscillation wavelength, a well layer using a material system not containing Sb and a barrier layer using a material system containing Sb may be used, and the respective compositions and film thicknesses may be changed. For example, if a multiple quantum well laser with an oscillation wavelength of 1.625 μm is to be obtained, InGaAs can be used for the well layer, which can reduce the band gap compared to InAsP, and InGaAsPSb can be used for the barrier layer, which can reduce the band gap compared to InGaPSb. Needless to say, improvement of the temperature characteristics and high-speed modulation in the laser are easier than in the case of using the InGaAsP barrier layer as in this embodiment.

  Further, in this embodiment, an example in which the metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy method is used as a method for manufacturing a semiconductor laser has been described. However, the present invention indicates that the barrier layer includes Sb and the well layer does not include Sb. As a feature, it is sufficient that the above-described quantum well structure can be produced, and it is effective even when other growth methods such as metal organic vapor phase epitaxy and molecular beam epitaxy are used. Nor.

  The present invention is suitable for a semiconductor laser used in an optical module used in an optical fiber communication system, has good temperature characteristics, can be directly modulated at a high speed, and can easily manufacture a semiconductor laser having excellent long-term reliability. Become. As a result, there is an effect that it becomes easy to provide an optical module corresponding to an increase in the traffic volume of the current and future communication networks.

1 n-type InP substrate 2 InP
3 InGaPSb barrier layer 4 InGaAsP well layer 5 Multiple quantum well structure 6 InP
7 n-type InP substrate 8 n-type InP
9 InGaAsP
10 InAsP / InGaPSb multiple quantum wells 11 InGaAsP
12 p-type InP
13 p-type InGaAs
14 p-type electrode 15 n-type electrode

Claims (4)

In a semiconductor laser having an active layer of a semiconductor quantum well structure on an InP substrate,
The semiconductor quantum well structure includes a semiconductor laser including InGaAsP, InAsP, or InGaAs as a well layer, and the barrier layer includes InGaPSb or InGaAsPSb.   2. The semiconductor laser according to claim 1, wherein the number of well layers included in the active layer is two or more.   2. The semiconductor laser according to claim 1, wherein the oscillation wavelength is between 1.260 [mu] m and 1.625 [mu] m.   2. The semiconductor laser according to claim 1, wherein the barrier layer included in the active layer has a composition of Sb in the group V element in a range larger than 0 and smaller than 0.5.

Images