A laser structure achieves high reliability, good bandwidth and performance characteristics and a fabrication procedure that is compatible with other IC devices by providing an active lasing region below an optical mode confining ridge. The active region is preferably a multiple quantum well (MQW) that is sandwiched between upper and lower cladding layers. The portions of the MQW lateral to the ridge are compositionally disordered to give them a larger bandgap energy and lower refractive index than the active MQW region, and thus resist charge carrier spreading from the MQW. The ridge provides the primary optical mode confinement, allowing a shallow burial of the MQW to a depth less than 0.5 microns. This permits the compositional disordering of the lateral MQW regions to be performed by a heated ion implantation process that requires a lower temperature than separate implantation and annealing, and is compatible with the provision of additional circuitry on the same substrate.
展开▼
