High-speed, self-aligned, 1300 nm buried ridge laser suitable for integration

High-speed lasers are required for the implementation of high data rate digital and analogue fibre optic systems. Conventional laser structures are often limited in their operation speed by the high capacitance of their metallisation. Here we report a self-aligned high-speed laser with a −3 dB bandwidth of >10 GHz incorporating a 2-level metal interconnect system suitable for integration. A value for the quantity (resonance frequency/output power½) of 3.5 GHz mW−½ has been measured, in agreement with theory for basic materials' parameters indicating that the device is not parasitic RC limited.