Method of improving current confinement in semiconductor lasers by inert ion bombardment

摘要

A method of producing patternable resistive regions in III-V compound semiconductor devices and a resulting device structure having improved current characteristics. III-V semiconductor substrates are irradiated with inert ions to produce a resistive region therein. At least one epitaxial layer is grown over the substrate while maintaining the resistive characteristics within the substrate. A second resistive region is then formed in at least the top epitaxial layer. This second resistive region is aligned with the first one in order to minimize current spread through the device.