We investigate improvement of catastrophic optical damage (COD) level for Al-free 0.98-mu m ridge waveguide laser diodes (LD's) using the impurity induced layer disordering (IILD) process applied near the facets. The IILD is used for the purpose of forming transparent windows near both facets of the LD's utilizing its ability to increase bandgap energy of the GaInAs-GaInAsP strained quantum-well (QW) active layer. Improvement of the COD level by at least 1.65 times compared to the conventional LD's is obtained for the LD's with Si+ implantation followed by annealing at 900 degrees C for 10 min.