System for electronically controlling and driving independently addressable semiconductor lasers

A system for electronically controlling and driving a plurality of independently addressable semiconductor lasers, comprising:

• vertical cavity surface emitting lasers arranged in a linear laser array comprised of at least 100 laser devices on a common substrate chip and a dedicated channel associated with an address trace line and connection point for each of the vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, wherein the vertical cavity surface emitting lasers are configured in the array to generate a linear image resolution of at least 300 dpi;
• an electronic current driver circuit for individually controlling the light output of each vertical cavity surface emitting laser by providing electric drive current to each vertical cavity surface emitting laser through the connection point and address trace line associated with the each vertical cavity surface emitting laser, wherein the vertical cavity surface emitting lasers are operable to produce a linear image on a surface;
• and
• a control interface circuit which receives a stream of digital image data from a computer and converts the digital image data into raw data which the electronic current driver circuit uses to apply an appropriate current to each vertical cavity surface emitting laser at an appropriate time, wherein the control interface circuit and the electronic current driver circuit are implemented on an ASIC, and wherein the control interface circuit and the electronic current driver circuit are paired with a substrate chip containing the laser array;
• and
• an interposer chip that communicates with the ASIC and the substrate chip containing the laser array, wherein the interposer has an array of input electrical connection points and an array of output electrical connection points, wherein each input connection point is electrically connected to exactly one output connection point, wherein the array of input connection points is in close proximity to the ASIC and the spacing between interposer input connection points is identical to the spacing of the ASIC output connection points for the laser current driver circuit, and wherein the array of output connection points on the interposer chip is in close proximity to the substrate chip containing the linear laser array and the spacing between interposer output connection points is identical to the spacing of the device connection points on the substrate chip containing the linear laser array.

A system for electronically controlling and driving a plurality of independently addressable semiconductor lasers, comprising:

• vertical cavity surface emitting lasers arranged in a linear array comprised of at least 100 laser devices on a common substrate chip and a dedicated channel associated with an address trace line and connection point for each of the vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, wherein the vertical cavity surface emitting lasers are configured in the linear array to generate a linear image resolution of at least 300 dpi;
• an electronic current driver circuit that individually controls the light output of each vertical cavity surface emitting laser by providing electric drive current to the each vertical cavity surface emitting laser through the connection point and address trace line associated with the each vertical cavity surface emitting laser, wherein the vertical cavity surface emitting lasers are configured to produce a linear image on a surface;
• a control interface circuit, wherein the control interface circuit receives a stream of digital image data from a computer and converts the digital image data into raw data which the electronic current driver circuit uses to apply current to the each vertical cavity surface emitting laser at an appropriate time, wherein the control interface circuit and the electronic current driver circuit are implemented on an ASIC, and wherein the control interface circuit and the electronic current driver circuit are paired with a substrate chip containing the linear array;
• and
• an interposer chip that communicates with the ASIC and the substrate chip containing the linear laser array, wherein the interposer has an array of input electrical connection points and an array of output electrical connection points, wherein each input connection point is electrically connected to exactly one output connection point, wherein the array of input connection points is in close proximity to the ASIC and the spacing between interposer input connection points is identical to the spacing of the ASIC output connection points for the laser current driver circuit, and wherein the array of output connection points on the interposer chip is in close proximity to the substrate chip containing the linear array and the spacing between interposer output connection points is identical to the spacing of the device connection points on the substrate chip containing the linear array.