Abstract

Selective interdiffusion of semiconductor quantum-well (QW) structures is a versatile process for the fabrication and integration of both new and existing photonic devices. The impurity-free defect diffusion process has previously been demonstrated to facilitate continuous tuning of the effective bandgap of GaAs/AlGaAs QWs over an energy range of at least 40 meV while still preserving the room-temperature exciton-related absorptive and refractive properties of the QWs.¹ In the present work the above interdiffusion process is further demonstrated to facilitate fabrication of efficient waveguide modulators operating over a wide range of wavelengths in a single epitaxial wafer. In addition, interdiffusion is demonstrated for the first time to facilitate tuning of the intersubband transitions in QWs.

© 1991 Optical Society of America