Characterization of iron doped indium phosphide as a current blocking layer in buried heterostructure quantum cascade lasers.

This work analyzes transport through metal organic chemical vapour deposition grown Iron doped Indium Phosphide (InP:Fe) for use as a current blocking layer in buried heterostructure Quantum Cascade Lasers. The nature of Iron incorporation in InP and electrical transport properties of InP:Fe is investigated via simulation and compared with measurement. Through simulations, we are able to predict the threshold for the onset of current rise in test structures due to avalanche injection of carriers. In addition, the benefit of InAlAs barriers inserted in InP:Fe layers is investigated and found to reduce the leakage current at lower biases while delaying the onset of avalanche. In buried heterostructure configuration, we have determined that non ideal regrowth profiles make the structure more susceptible to high field effects such as avalanche injection and trap filling that induce leakage currents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]