Catastrophic degradation in high-power InGaAs-AlGaAs strained quantum well lasers and InAs-GaAs quantum dot lasers

Reliability and degradation processes in broad-area InGaAs-AlGaAs strained quantum well (QW) lasers are under investigation because these lasers are indispensible as pump lasers for fiber lasers and amplifiers that have found an increasing number of industrial applications in recent years. Extensive efforts by a number of groups to develop InAs-GaAs quantum dot (QD) lasers have recently led to significant improvement in performance characteristics, but due to a short history of commercialization, high power QD lasers lacks studies in reliability and degradation processes. For the present study, we investigated reliability and degradation processes in MOCVD-grown broad-area InGaAs-AlGaAs strained QW lasers as well as in MBE-grown broad-area InAs-GaAs QD lasers using various failure mode analysis (FMA) techniques. Dots for the QD lasers were formed via a self-assembly process during MBE growth. We employed two different methods to degrade lasers during accelerated life-testing: commercial life-tester and our newly developed time-resolved electroluminescence (TR-EL) set-up. Our TR-EL set-up allows us to observe formation of a hot spot and subsequent formation and progression of dark spots and dark lines through windowed n-contacts during entire accelerated life-tests. Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and time resolved photoluminescence (TR-PL) techniques were employed to study trap characteristics and carrier dynamics in pre- and post-stressed QW and QD lasers to identify the root causes of catastrophic degradation processes in these lasers. We also employed electron beam induced current (EBIC), focused ion beam (FIB), and high resolution TEM to study dark line defects and crystal defects in post-aged QW and QD lasers at different stages of degradation.