Structure Design of UVA VCSEL for High Wall Plug Efficiency and Low Threshold Current

Vertical-cavity surface emitting lasers in UVA band (UVA VCSELs) operating at a central wavelength of 395 nm are designed by employing PICS3D(2021) software. The simulation results indicate that the thickness of the InGaN quantum well and GaN barrier layers affect the emission efficiency of UVA VCSELs greatly, suggesting an optimal thicknesses of 2.2 nm for the well layer and 2.7 nm for the barrier layer. Additionally, an overall consideration of threshold current, series resistance, photoelectric conversion efficiency, and optical output power results in the optimized thickness of the ITO current spreading layer, ~20 nm. Furthermore, by employing a five-pair Al0.15Ga0.85N/GaN multi-quantum barrier electron blocking layer (EBL) instead of a single Al0.2Ga0.8N EBL, the device shows a ~51% enhancement in the optical output power and a ~48% reduction in the threshold current. The number of distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) pairs also plays crucial roles in the device’s photoelectric performance. The device designed in this study demonstrates a minimum lasing threshold of 1.16 mA and achieves a maximum wall plug efficiency of approximately 5%, outperforming other similar studies.