Selective area growth of GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs multilayer structures with molecular beam epitaxy using Si shadow masks

Selective growth of patterned GaAs and AlxGa1−xAs thin-film structures with well-defined optically smooth mirrorlike edges has been achieved with a Si-mask shadowing technique for molecular beam epitaxy. Single and multilayer stripe-mesa waveguides with widths as narrow as 1 μm, two-dimensional waveguide tapers, and various other epilayer patterns have been fabricated using single-level or multilevel masking. This technique has potential for use in the realization of integrated optoelectronic circuits in the GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs system.