An improved butt coupling method is used to fabricate an electroabsorption modulator (EAM) monolithically integrated with a distributed feedback (DFB) laser. The obtained electroabsorption-modulated laser (EML) chip with the traditional shallow ridge exhibits very low threshold current of 12 mA, output power of more than 8 mW, and static extinction ratio of -7 dB at the applied bias voltage from 0.5 to -2.0 V.