Total in situ etching and regrowth in an MBE system: application to buried heterostructure lasers

A new chlorine-based chemical beam etching technique (CBET) has been combined with molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technology to prepare InP-InGaAsP buried heterostructures in a total in situ etching and regrowth process for the first time. This novel processing technology, combining two techniques in the same MBE growth chamber, is very attractive for the realization of high-performance discrete or integrated optoelectronic devices. The different aspects of the etching process optimization are reviewed in the case of InP-InGaAsP heterostructures, and a first application to buried heterostructure laser fabrication is presented. The results obtained for buried ridge stripe (BRS) lasers are very promising and compare favorably to the state-of-the-art lasers. This first device application passes a milestone in the development of this new technology and demonstrates its potential for further applications to the fabrication of optoelectronic devices.