Ion-Beam Techniques in Processing of GaAs Lasers

An ion beam milling/deposition technique was used in metallization and passivation of MO-CVD-grown GaAs/GaAlAs DH lasers. Stable contacts with specific contact resistance comparable with the best reported on Si was achieved. Passivation of the laser mirrors resulted in low degradation rates during accelerated life testing of these lasers. These results clearly demonstrate the advantages of the ion-beam techniques in GaAs device processing.