A Review of Materials Issues and Degradation of III-V Compound Semiconductors and Optical Devices

Materials issues in III-V alloy semiconductors and our current understanding of degradation mechanism in III-V compound semiconductors and optical devices are systematically reviewed. Generation of defects and thermal instability are among these issues for these systems. In each phenomenon, generation mechanism of defects and structure are clarified. Three major degradation modes of optical devices, rapid degradation, gradual degradation, and catastrophic failure are briefly summarized, and the rapid and the gradual degradation modes are discussed in more detail.