Semiconductor light source and light-emitting device drive circuit
AssigneePanasonic Corporation
InventorsDaisuke Ueda, Masaaki Yuri, Katsumi Sugiura, Kenichi Matsuda
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A semiconductor light source includes a light-emitting device 101 having a plurality of semiconductor layers made of nitride semiconductors, and a drive circuit 102 for driving the light-emitting device 101. The drive circuit 102 performs forward drive operation, in which a forward current is supplied to the light-emitting device to make the light-emitting device 101 emit light, and reverse drive operation, in which a reverse bias is applied to the light-emitting device. The magnitude of the reverse bias is limited by the value of a reverse current flowing through the light-emitting device.
Claims14
A semiconductor light source comprising:
- a semiconductor laser device including a plurality of semiconductor layers made of nitride semiconductors;
- and
- a drive circuit for driving the semiconductor laser device,
- wherein the drive circuit performs forward drive operation, in which a forward current is supplied to the semiconductor laser device to make the semiconductor laser device oscillate, and reverse drive operation, in which a reverse bias is applied to the semiconductor laser device;
- and
- a reverse drive period in which the reverse drive operation is performed is set within a laser-off period in which the forward drive operation is not performed.
A light-emitting device drive circuit for driving a semiconductor laser device including a plurality of semiconductor layers made of nitride semiconductors, the light-emitting device drive circuit comprising:
- a forward drive circuit for supplying a forward current to the semiconductor laser device to make the semiconductor laser device oscillate;
- a reverse drive circuit for applying a reverse bias to the semiconductor laser device;
- and
- a switching circuit for performing switching between the forward drive circuit and the reverse drive circuit, thereby connecting either the forward drive circuit or the reverse drive circuit with the semiconductor laser device.
A semiconductor light source comprising:
- a light-emitting device including a plurality of semiconductor layers made of nitride semiconductors;
- and
- a drive circuit for driving the light-emitting device,
- wherein the drive circuit performs forward drive operation, in which a forward current is supplied to the light-emitting device to make the light-emitting device emit light, and reverse drive operation, in which a reverse bias is applied to the light-emitting device;
- and
- the magnitude of the reverse bias is limited by the value of a reverse current flowing through the light-emitting device.
A light-emitting device drive circuit for driving a light-emitting device including a plurality of semiconductor layers made of nitride semiconductors;
- the light-emitting device drive circuit comprising:
- a forward drive circuit for supplying a forward current to the light-emitting device to make the light-emitting device emit light;
- a reverse drive circuit for applying a reverse bias to the light-emitting device;
- and
- a constant current circuit for limiting the value of a reverse current flowing though the light-emitting device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.