Combining light-emitting elements of differing divergence on the same substrate
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsArnaud Laflaquière, Marc Drader
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An optoelectronic device includes a semiconductor substrate and a monolithic array of light-emitting elements formed on the substrate. The light-emitting elements include a first plurality of first emitters, configured to emit respective first beams of light with a first angular divergence, at respective first positions in the array, and a second plurality of second emitters, configured to emit respective second beams of light with a second angular divergence that is at least 50% greater than the first angular divergence, at respective second positions in the array.
Claims12
An optoelectronic device, comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate;
- and
- a monolithic array comprising an arrangement of unit cells of light-emitting elements formed on the substrate comprising epitaxial structures of multiple epitaxial layers, the light-emitting elements in each unit cell comprising:
- a plurality of first vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), which comprise first mesas having a first width and are configured to emit respective first beams of light with a first angular divergence, at respective first positions in the unit cell;
- and
- one or more second VCSELs, which comprise second mesas having a second width smaller than the first width and are configured to emit respective second beams of light with a second angular divergence that is at least 50% greater than the first angular divergence, at respective second positions in the unit cell.
An optoelectronic device, comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate;
- and
- a monolithic array comprising an arrangement of unit cells of light-emitting elements formed on the substrate, the light-emitting elements in each unit cell comprising:
- a plurality of first vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), which comprise first mesas having a first width and are configured to emit respective first beams of light with a first angular divergence to form a pattern of structured radiation on a region in space, at respective first positions in the unit cell;
- and
- one or more second VCSELs, which comprise second mesas having a second width smaller than the first width and are configured to emit respective second beams of light with a second angular divergence that is greater than the first angular divergence to cast flood illumination on the region, at respective second positions in the unit cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.