A study was made of the microdefect-induced degradation mode in long-lifetime blue-green laser diodes and light-emitting diodes which were based upon II-VI wide band-gap semiconductors. Microscopic deep defect centres were detected mainly by using deep level transient spectroscopy; coupled with ICTS methods. It was shown that a slow-mode degradation, which was commonly observed in dislocation-free laser diode devices, was caused by the generation and enhancement of microscopic deep centres during device aging.

Microscopic Defect-Induced Slow-Mode Degradation in II-VI Based Blue-Green Laser Diodes. M.Adachi, Z.M.Aung, K.Minami, K.Koizumi, M.Watanabe, S.Kawamoto, T.Yamaguchi, H.Kasada, T.Abe, K.Ando, K.Nakano, A.Ishibashi, S.Itoh: Journal of Crystal Growth, 2000, 214-215, 1035-9