Lifetime Model for <i>p</i>-Contact Induced Failures in Monolithic GaAs-on-Si Nano-Ridge Lasers Considering Junction Heating

Abstract

A competing bimodal lifetime distribution, incorporating the Joule heating effect, is adopted to describe the p contact induced optical power failures occurring in GaAs nanoridge lasers monolithically integrated on 300 mm Si. Accelerated aging tests are performed at various temperatures and current densities to better understand the physics of the two dominant failure mechanisms - impurity diffusion and GaAs elemental interdiffusion. The activation energies and power law exponents for both mechanisms are determined by calibrating the junction temperatures using an experimentally validated electrothermal model. The former mechanism shows a weak current density dependence, suggesting a neutral diffusion source. In addition, the latter mechanism is linked to a recombination-enhanced process. Finally, lifetime projection is achieved by leveraging this model, enabling proposals of reliability-improved designs.