This article is cited in 1 paper

Using AlN coatings to protect the surface of AlGaAs/GaAs system heterostructures from interaction with atmospheric oxygen

E. V. Fomin^a, A. D. Bondarev^b, I. P. Sotnikov^bc, N. B. Bercu^d, L. Giraudet^d, M. Molinary^d, T. Maurer^e, N. A. Pikhtin<sup>ab

a</sup> Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI"
^b Ioffe Institute, St. Petersburg
^c Alferov Federal State Budgetary Institution of Higher Education and Science Saint Petersburg National Research Academic University of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg
^d Laboratoire de Recherche en Nanosciences, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France
^e Laboratoire de Nanotechnologie et d’Instrumentation Optique, ICD CNRS UMR 6281, Université de Technologie de Troyes, Troyes, France

Abstract: Thin aluminum nitride (AlN) films have been synthesized by reactive ion–plasma sputtering (RIPS) and their properties have been studied in view of using this method for obtaining protective coatings on output facets of high-power semiconductor laser cavities based on Al$_{x}$Ga$_{1-x}$As/GaAs heterostructures. Investigations by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and ellipsometry techniques showed that, at a residual pressure of $\sim$10$^{-5}$ Torr, a layer of aluminum oxynitride is formed and the film–substrate heteroboundary may experience to oxidation. However, AlN films with thicknesses on the order of 100 nm grown in pure nitrogen at a residual pressure of $\sim$10$^{-7}$ Torr were evidently free of oxygen and could reliably prevent its penetration to the region of heteroboundary.

Keywords: semiconductor lasers, thin films, passivation, aluminum nitride, degradation of lasers.

Received: 28.10.2019
Revised: 16.12.2019
Accepted: 16.12.2019

DOI: 10.21883/PJTF.2020.06.49158.18088

 English version: Technical Physics Letters, 2020, 46:3, 268–271

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