Wet oxidation of AlGaAs vs. AlAs: A little gallium is good

In summary, buried oxides formed from the wet oxidation of AlGaAs alloys, rather than AlAs, are found to be superior in terms of oxidation isotropy, mechanical stability, and strain. It is not surprising that VCSELs using AlGaAs oxide layers as current apertures have shown promising reliability as compared to VCSELs using AlAs layers. Comparisons of lifetime data for VCSELs with differing oxide layers will be presented. The beneficial properties of oxides converted from AlGaAs alloys are found to provide robust device processing of reliable VCSELs and may play an important role in other advanced optoelectronic devices.