The effects of screening on the reliability of GaAlAs/GaAs semiconductor lasers

The effects of a two-stage test method on the reliability assurance of GaAlAs/GaAs lasers are examined. Life-test data indicate that early failure mode can be effectively eliminated by a prelife-test screening procedure. Degradation rates obtained after removing these prematurely failured devices provide a useful parameter to predict device lifetime statistically. However, another degradation mode, developed during laser lifetime, prevents the use of this degradation rate to calculate realistic individual device lifetimes.<
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