Optical and Etching Studies of Native Aluminum Oxide Layers for Use in Microcavity Photonic Devices

The advancement of optoelectronic devices and systems will play a vital role in the Air Force's ability to maintain information dominance. Optical communication and computing systems will be required to meet the information transfer and processing needs of the 21st century and beyond. Microcavity devices, such as vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), serve as an enabling technology to implement and integrate photonic devices and optoelectronic systems. It is important to understand the optical and mechanical properties of materials utilized within microcavity devices. Only then is it possible to accurately model and analyze device structures prior to expensive epitaxial growth by molecular beam epitaxy. Microcavity structures incorporating high aluminum content AlxGa1xAs layers are designed, grown, processed, and calibrated.