Formation of nitride laser cavities with cleaved facets on transferred laser diodes on GaAs substrates

Abstract

Smoothly cleaved facets with high reflectivities have been demonstrated on GaN laser diodes after the devices were transferred onto GaAs substrates. The GaN based laser diode structure was first fabricated by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on c-plane sapphire substrates. The samples were then mounted onto thin GaAs substrates using wafer-bonding technology. Laser lift-off (LLO) technique was applied to remove the original sapphire substrate and transfer the GaN laser structure onto GaAs substrates. Since the cubic substrates have well-defined laser cavity cleavage facet, the GaN structures bonded onto the substrates also formed smooth facets after cleavage. The cleaved facets of GaN laser diodes have been characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM) with less than 2 nm roughness. The present study demonstrated the feasibility of transferring GaN laser structures onto other more appealing substrates for formation of laser cavities.