Reactive ion etching (RIE) processes have been evaluated in terms of material damage introduced and effect on device performance. We have evaluated the damage introduced in the InP/InGaAsP material system, in terms of surface damage depth, by various RIE-related etching processes (based on CH4/H-2 chemistry) and we have fabricated complete Fabry-Perot laser diode devices to evaluate the effect of RIE-induced damage on device performance. Electrical, optical, and reliability performance results are presented for the laser diode devices. A comparison between the laser device performance and the related surface damage depth is presented and discussed. It has been shown that a correlation exists between RIE-induced damage and optoelectronic device performance. By carefully designing RIE-related processes, which introduce low material damage, good optoelectronic device performance can be realized coupled with high device reliability. (c) 2006 American Vacuum Society.