Indium tin oxide transparent electrodes for broad-area top-emitting vertical-cavity lasers fabricated using a single lithography step

摘要

We report for the first time top-emitting buried oxide vertical cavity lasers using transparent indium tin oxide electrodes. Our process enables broad-area InAlGaAs VCSELs to be fabricated in a single lithography step, thus allowing the fast turn-around time necessary for evaluating VCSEL epitaxial materials. The ITO contacts attain a peak transmission of 96%, a specific contact resistance of 10/sup -5/ /spl Omega//spl middot/cm/sup 2/, and a sheet resistivity of 2.5/spl times/10/sup -4/ /spl Omega//spl middot/cm. Under room temperature CW pumping, the devices exhibit a minimum threshold current density of 1.2 kA/cm/sup 2/ at a wavelength of 801 mm, and have a maximum light output power of 5.2 mW.