Failure Analysis of High-Power (One-Watt) Room-Temperature Continuous Wave MOCVD Quantum Cascade Lasers

Knipfer, B.; Sigler, C.; Boyle, C.; Kirch, Jeremy; Oresick, K.; Kim, Honghyuk; Botez, D.; Mawst, Luke J.; Becher, N.; Farzaneh, M.; Lindberg, D.; Earles, T.

doi:10.1109/islc.2018.8516151

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Higher output power (~ 1W CW), constant-power, lifetest studies of QCLs emitting at λ ~ 5.0 μm have shown that stable operation can be achieved over 2500 hours at room temperature, as shown in Fig. 11 [62]. Interestingly, some devices exhibit a slight improvement initially with aging and stabilize after an initial burn-in, as shown in Fig.…”

Section: Reliability and Failures Modesmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…The estimated activeregion temperature is ~70 o C, based on correlating thermal simulations with thermal-reflectance measurements on BH lasers [63]. In [62], to mitigate the failure mechanism previously observed at lower output powers in [53] as well as to improve device output, both facets have coatings: a high-reflectivity (HR) back-facet coating and a 14% low-reflectivity (LR) front-facet coating. The devices were mounted episide-down on copper with indium and tested under constant-power operation in a controlled environment.…”

Section: Reliability and Failures Modesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High-Power Mid-Infrared (λ∼3-6 μm) Quantum Cascade Lasers

Mawst

Botez

2022

IEEE Photonics J.

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The performances of mid-infrared (IR) quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are now reaching a maturity level that enables a variety of applications which require compact laser sources capable of watt-range output powers with high beam quality. We review the fundamental design issues and current performance limitations, focusing on InGaAs/AlInAs/InP QCLs with emission in the 3-6 m wavelength range. Metamorphic materials broaden the available compositions for accessing short emission wavelengths (≤3.5 m) or for integration with GaAs-and Si-photonics platforms. Conductionband engineering through the use of varying compositions throughout the active-region structure has been utilized to achieve the highest performance levels to date. Interface roughness scattering plays a dominant role in determining both the lower-laser-level lifetime as well as the carrier-leakage current. Numerous approaches have been implemented in attempts to control, scale, and stabilize the spatial mode to high output powers. Of all approaches photonic-crystal structures with high built-in index contrast, thus capable of maintaining modal properties under strong self-heating, are the most promising device configuration for achieving single-spatial-mode, single-lobe reliable CW operation to multiwattrange power levels. Such devices have demonstrated to date > 5W front-facet output powers with diffraction-limited beams in shortpulse operation.

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Section: Reliability and Failures Modesmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Reliability and Failures Modesmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Power Mid-Infrared (λ∼3-6 μm) Quantum Cascade Lasers

Mawst

Botez

2022

IEEE Photonics J.

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“…A major challenge in estimating the life time of QCLs is the low failure rate of the device past an initial operating period. Indeed, in much of the previous life time studies, the tested QCLs exhibit two timescales for failure: within several hundred hours of operation or after thousands of hours of operation; those studies focus on lasers that survive the initial operating period [16][17][18] . Premature failure refers to failures within the shorter timescale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting Early Failure of Quantum Cascade Lasers During Accelerated Burn-in Testing Using Machine Learning

Aydinkarahaliloglu

Jatar

Wang

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Device life time is a significant consideration in the cost of ownership of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). The life time of QCLs beyond an initial burn-in period has been studied previously; however, little attention has been given to predicting premature device failure where the device fails within several hundred hours of operation. Here, we demonstrate how standard electrical and optical device measurements obtained during an accelerated burn-in process can be used in a simple support vector machine to predict premature failure with high confidence. For every QCL that fails, at least one of the measurements is classified as belonging to a device that will fail prematurely—as much as 205 hours before the actual failure of the device. Furthermore, for devices that are operational at the end of the burn-in process, the algorithm correctly classifies all the measurements. This work will influence future device analysis and could lead to insights on the physical mechanisms of premature failure in QCLs.

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“…wavelength infrared (LWIR) QCLs (7-14 µm) cover an important atmospheric window and can be widely applied in trace gas analysis [1]. To be best of our knowledge, although many relevant investigations have been developed to study the degradation mechanisms of QCLs over the last 20 years [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12], only a few of these investigations have reported on the causes of failure of LWIR QCLs [9][10][11][12] and fewer of them are focused on the high power LWIR QCL [10,12]. Therefore, the results of high power LWIR QCLs failure analysis should be accumulated extensively to improve the manufacture technology and expand the potential device applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catastrophic failure of the back facet in watt-level power long wavelength infrared quantum cascade laser

Yin¹,

Zhang²,

Guo³

et al. 2022

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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Quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) suffer from catastrophic failure caused by serious self-heating, thus limiting their output power and working stability. In this study, we observed a distinctive failure morphology on the back facet of watt-level power QCL emitting at λ～7.7µm. The failure was caused by a massive localized current and the channel of the massive current can be observed in the cavity. Because the massive current significantly increased temperature nearby, two burned holes were formed around the channel. A 3D thermal model shows that the back facet is a vulnerable location for failure because light absorption by the high-reflectance (HR) metal coating increases the facet temperature significantly. However, the starting point of the massive current has a certain distance from the facet which is the hottest location in the cavity. Therefore, we conduct a hypothesis that the cause of the massive current is thermal strain relaxations induced by temperature gradient. We calculated the positions of the relaxation points and one of them correspond with the failure starting point found experimentally. The strain relaxation damaged the active region, thus leading to the formation of the massive current.

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Failure Analysis of High-Power (One-Watt) Room-Temperature Continuous Wave MOCVD Quantum Cascade Lasers

Cited by 4 publications

References 1 publication

High-Power Mid-Infrared (λ∼3-6 μm) Quantum Cascade Lasers

High-Power Mid-Infrared (λ∼3-6 μm) Quantum Cascade Lasers

Predicting Early Failure of Quantum Cascade Lasers During Accelerated Burn-in Testing Using Machine Learning

Catastrophic failure of the back facet in watt-level power long wavelength infrared quantum cascade laser

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