Large blueshift in InGaAs/InGaAsP laser structure using inductively coupled argon plasma-enhanced quantum well intermixing

An inductively coupled plasma-enhanced quantum well intermixing technique has been developed to induce a shift in the band gap in quantum well structures using argon plasma. The emission of the InGaAs/InGaAsP laser structure was blueshifted as much as 104 nm with linewidth broadening of only 10.6 nm using 5 min plasma exposure and subsequent rapid thermal annealing. This large shift is attributed to inductively coupled plasma at high ion current density (with 100’s of eV ion impact energy) that promotes desirable point defects near the surface of the samples. The result has demonstrated an effective approach for large band gap tuning of InGaAs/InGaAsP laser structures.