The characteristic temperature and modal gain of 1.3-m p-doped InAs/GaAs quantum-dot (QD) lasers with different ridge heights have been investigated as a function of injection current under different operation temperatures ranging from 20 C to 120 C. The results show that the geometrical shape of the laser ridge has significant effect on the threshold current density, , and modal gain. The optimum ridge height in the QD laser should be controlled with etch depth where most of the doped layers above the active region are removed.Index Terms-Characteristic temperature ( ), modal gain, p-doping, quantum dot (QD), ridge height.