Effect on regrowth interface quality of a new treatment, ACE, in a process using hydrocarbon gas RIE to fabricate InP-based BH-LD

ACE (ammonium sulfide combined etching) is a new treatment designed for use in hydrocarbon gas RIE based fabrication of InP-based buried-heterostructure (BH) laser diodes (LD). ACE involves dipping a sample in ammonium sulfide (NH/sub 4/S/sub x/) solution at room temperature for 10 minutes and then treating it again with sulfuric acid prior to regrowth. We found that ACE improves regrowth interface quality and LD characteristics due to its ability to remove impurities incorporated during the process.