Method of making a surface emitting semiconductor laser
AssigneesBell Communications Research, Inc., AT&T Bell Laboratories
InventorsJack L. Jewell, Axel Scherer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of making a vertical-cavity surface emitting laser and method of making in which a III-V heterostructure is epitaxially grown to include a quantum well active region between two interference mirrors separated by an emitting wavelength of the quantum well region. A small pillar of this heterostructure is etched by chemically assisted xenon ion beam etching. Prior to etching, a top metal contact is deposited on the epitaxial semiconductor. Light is emitted through the substrate having a bandgap larger than that of the quantum well region.
Claims20
A method of fabricating a vertically oriented semiconducting optical structure, comprising the steps of:
- epitaxially forming on a crystalline body a vertical structure comprising a plurality of semiconductive layers of differing compositions, said vertical structure including an active region having an effective bandgap, a first interference mirror and another mirror substantially reflecting light of a wavelength corresponding to said bandgap, an optical distance between said interference mirror and said another mirror being in a predetermined relationship with said wavelength;
- and
- vertically etching with an ion beam comprising ions heavier than argon through a portion of said vertical structure including at least said active region to form an isolated pillar of at least some of said semiconductive layers.
A method of fabricating a vertical semiconductor diode laser, comprising the steps of:
- forming on a body a vertical structure comprising a plurality of layers, at least some of which comprise semiconductor layers epitaxial with said substrate, said structure including a lower mirror, a lower spacer, an active semiconductor layer emitting light at a wavelength, an upper spacer and an upper mirror, an optical distance between said lower and upper mirrors being in a predetermined relationship to said wavelength, said upper and lower mirrors reflecting a substantial fraction of light at said wavelength;
- vertically etching a portion of said structure to form a pillar rising away from said substrate;
- and
- a first step of electrically connecting a first electrical contact to a portion of said pillar above said active layer;
- and
- a second step of electrically connecting a second electrical contact to a portion of said vertical structure below said active layer;
- wherein said vertical etching step causes electrical current between said two contacts to be confined to an area of said active layer corresponding to said pillar.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.