Reliability and degradation of iii-v optical devices focusing on gradual degradation

Abstract

This chapter describes studies on the reliability of semiconductor optical devices over more than three decades, dating back to the early 1970s, focusing on gradual degradation. First, three main degradation modes for optical devices, rapid degradation, gradual degradation, and catastrophic failure, are outlined (see also Chaps. 1 and 5). Next, the results of the classical research into rapid degradation that was carried out in the 1970s and 1980s are presented as an introduction to a systematic discussion of the research that followed-remarkable research into gradual degradation. Then, we discuss the influence of local strain to the gradual degradation and methods for eliminating the gradual degradation rate.