Thermal characteristics and analysis of quantum cascade lasers for biochemical sensing applications

We studied the thermal characteristics and analysis of InGaAs/InAlAs quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) in terms of internal temperature distribution, heat flux, and thermal conductance from the heat transfer simulation. The heat source densities were obtained from threshold power densities measured experimentally for QCLs under room-temperature continuous-wave operation. The use of a thick electroplated Au around the laser ridges helps increase the heat removal from devices. The two-dimensional anisotropic heat dissipation model was used to analyze the thermal behaviors inside the device. The simulation results were also compared with those estimated from experimental data.