Causes and distribution of failure of semiconductor lasers (review)

An analysis is made of the various factors that affect the reliability of semiconductor lasers and the results of laboratory service life tests are reviewed. The service life of GaAlAs/GaAs injection lasers exceeds 5×10⁴ h and extrapolation of high-temperature tests suggests that it may exceed 10⁶ h. Equally long service life is expected for InGaAsP/InP lasers and the published extrapolated values of the continuous service life exceed 10¹⁰h (at 10°C). The nature and the parameters of the distributions of failure are discussed and ways of forecasting the service life are considered.