Material quality is an essential prerequisite and a major challenge for the fabrication of high-power, 980-nm, strained-quantum-well (SQW) InGaAs lasers. We report our work aimed at metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth optimization and epitaxial quality analysis of various graded-index separate confinement heterostructure (GRINSCH) QW AlGaAs/InGaAs laser structures. Systematic investigation of doping level control and minimization of oxygen incorporation in AlGaAs were performed. Background oxygen levels of 10(15) cm(-3) were obtained with n-(Si) and p-(C) doping concentrations as high as 1 X 10(18) cm(-3) and 3 X 10(18) cm(-3), respectively, for Al0.4Ga0.6As layers. Double-crystal x-ray (DCXR), room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) mapping, Hall effect measurements, and secondary ion-mass spectroscopy (SIMS) techniques were used to evaluate material quality. A record, multimode, pulsed output power of 52.1 W has been obtained from 100-mum X 2-mm broad-stripe lasers made from these materials. The devices demonstrate low threshold current, low cavity losses, and kink-free light-current characteristics.
