Creating arbitrary patterns on a 2-d uniform grid VCSEL array

An optoelectronic device, comprising:

• a semiconductor substrate;
• a regular array of optoelectronic cells, which are formed on the semiconductor substrate and comprise:
• first epitaxial layers defining a lower distributed Bragg-reflector (DBR) stack;
• second epitaxial layers formed over the lower DBR stack, defining a quantum well structure;
• third epitaxial layers, formed over the quantum well structure, defining an upper DBR stack;
• and
• electrodes formed over the upper DBR stack;
• conductors configured to feed electrical current to the optoelectronic cells;
• and
• an isolation layer,
• wherein the regular array of the optoelectronic cells comprises:
• a first set of the optoelectronic cells in which the electrodes are configured to inject an excitation current into the quantum well structure of the optoelectronic cells in the first set, so that the optoelectronic cells in the first set emit laser radiation in response to the excitation current;
• and
• a second set of the optoelectronic cells, interleaved with the first set of the optoelectronic cells in the regular array, wherein the isolation layer isolates the electrodes of the second set of the optoelectronic cells from the conductors, so that the excitation current is not fed to the electrodes of the second set of the optoelectronic cells, and the optoelectronic cells in the second set do not emit the laser radiation.

A method for manufacturing an optoelectronic device, the method comprising:

• depositing first epitaxial layers on a semiconductor substrate to define a lower distributed Bragg-reflector (DBR) stack;
• depositing second epitaxial layers over the first epitaxial layers to define a quantum well structure;
• depositing third epitaxial layers over the second epitaxial layers to define an upper DBR stack;
• etching the first epitaxial layers, the second epitaxial layers, and the third epitaxial layers to define a regular array of optoelectronic cells;
• depositing electrodes over the third epitaxial layers, wherein the electrodes are configured to inject an excitation current into the quantum well structure of at least some of the optoelectronic cells in the regular array of the optoelectronic cells so as to cause a first set of the optoelectronic cells in the regular array of the optoelectronic cells to emit laser radiation in response to the excitation current;
• and
• configuring the electrodes of a second set of the optoelectronic cells, which is interleaved with the first set of the optoelectronic cells in the regular array, so as to prevent the electrodes of the optoelectronic cells in the second set of the optoelectronic cells from injecting the excitation current into the quantum well structure of the optoelectronic cells in the second set, whereby the optoelectronic cells in the second set do not emit the laser radiation,
• wherein configuring the electrodes comprises forming an isolation layer between epitaxial layers and the electrodes, and etching away a part of the isolation layer in the first set of the optoelectronic cells while not etching the isolation layer in the second set of the optoelectronic cells, so as to prevent the injection of the excitation current into the quantum well structure of the second set of the optoelectronic cells.

A method for manufacturing an optoelectronic device, the method comprising:

• depositing first epitaxial layers on a semiconductor substrate to define a lower distributed Bragg-reflector (DBR) stack;
• depositing second epitaxial layers over the first epitaxial layers to define a quantum well structure;
• depositing third epitaxial layers over the second epitaxial layers to define an upper DBR stack;
• etching the first epitaxial layers, the second epitaxial layers, and the third epitaxial layers to define a regular array of optoelectronic cells;
• depositing electrodes over the third epitaxial layers, wherein the electrodes are configured to inject an excitation current into the quantum well structure of at least some of the optoelectronic cells in the regular array of the optoelectronic cells so as to cause a first set of the optoelectronic cells in the regular array of the optoelectronic cells to emit laser radiation in response to the excitation current;
• and
• configuring the electrodes of a second set of the optoelectronic cells, which is interleaved with the first set of the optoelectronic cells in the regular array, so as to prevent the electrodes of the optoelectronic cells in the second set of the optoelectronic cells from injecting the excitation current into the quantum well structure of the optoelectronic cells in the second set, whereby the optoelectronic cells in the second set do not emit the laser radiation,
• wherein configuring the electrodes comprises configuring conductors to feed electrical current to the array of optoelectronic cells, and depositing and patterning an isolation layer so as to isolate the electrodes of the second set of the optoelectronic cells from the conductors, so that the electrical current is not fed to the electrodes of the second set of the optoelectronic cells.