Design of an InGaAs/InP 1.55 μm electrically pumped VCSEL

The design of an electrically pumped InGaAs quantum well based vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) on InP substrate is presented. Such optically pumped VCSELs have already been demonstrated. To design electrically pumped VCSEL, three simulations steps are needed: optical simulation gives access to the standing-wave electric field distribution, to design the active region and the Bragg mirrors. Thermal simulation is helpful to design metallic contacts while the energy band diagram is obtained by electrical simulation to design the buried tunnel junction useful for carrier injection. All these simulations are compared to experiment.