Impact of threading dislocation density on the lifetime of InAs quantum dot lasers on Si

We investigate the impact of threading dislocation density on the reliability of 1.3 mu m InAs quantum dot lasers epitaxially grown on Si. A reduction in the threading dislocation density from 2.8 x 10(8) cm(-2) to 7.3 x 10(6) cm(-2) has improved the laser lifetime by about five orders of magnitude when aged continuous-wave near room temperature (35 degrees C). We have achieved extrapolated lifetimes (time to double initial threshold) more than 10 x 10(6) h. An accelerated laser aging test at an elevated temperature (60 degrees C) reveals that p-modulation doped quantum dot lasers on Si retain superior reliability over unintentionally doped ones. These results suggest that epitaxially grown quantum dot lasers could be a viable approach to realize a reliable, scalable, and efficient light source on Si. Published by AIP Publishing.