Near-field scanning optical microscopy and near-field induced photocurrent investigations of buried heterostructure multiquantum well lasers

M. P. Ackland, P. R. Dunstan, P. Rees

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Buried heterostructure multiquantum well laser devices are investigated utilizing a near-field scanning optical microscope to characterize and correlate the surface topography, optical output and electronic properties of the device. Near-field photocurrent imaging has been used to accurately measure the unbiased buried heterostructure multiquantum well device in cross-section, successfully revealing the distribution of pn-junctions and their associated fields. Moreover, this has been accurately correlated with the physical structure of the device determined by simultaneous shear-force imaging of the surface. Topographic structure is manifested as a result of strain relaxation (∼10-10m) of the cleaved cross-section. These imaging modes are similarly correlated with the optical output of the operational device mapped with 50 nm lateral resolution. The collection-mode measurements detected electroluminescence external to the active region, highlighting the existence of carrier recombination away from the multiquantum well device region. The combination and correlation of different near-field scanning optical microscope imaging modes proved powerful in the analysis of the buried heterostructure multiquantum well device, and was shown to assist in the identification of current leakage pathways within the structure.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)229-235
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Microscopy
Volume220
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2005

Keywords

  • Buried heterostructure
  • Current leakage
  • Lasers
  • Near-field
  • NSOM
  • Photocurrent

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Instrumentation

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