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US 5,208,183 AGranted
Method of making a semiconductor laser
AssigneeAT&T Bell Laboratories
InventorsYoung-Kai Chen, Minghwei Hong, Ming-Chiang Wu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is an advantageous method of making ridge-waveguide lasers. The method is a self-aligned method that does not comprise any critical alignment steps. Thus it is useful for making lasers that have a very narrow ridge waveguide. Such lasers are desirable because they can suppress lateral higher order modes.
Claims6
A method of making a semiconductor laser comprising a ridge-waveguide structure, the method comprising
- a) providing a multi-layer semiconductor body comprising an active region and a major surface;
- b) processing the semiconductor body such that a ridge-waveguide structure is formed;
- and
- c) providing means for making electrical contact to the laser;
- CHARACTERIZED IN THAT step b) comprises
- d) forming on the major surface a patterned first layer;
- e) exposing the major surface with the patterned first layer thereon to an etching medium such that a portion of the major surface is etched, resulting in an etched surface overlying, and spaced from, the active region, whereby the ridge-waveguide structure is formed;
- f) depositing a planarization layer such that a portion of the planarization layer that overlies the ridge-waveguide structure is thinner than a portion of the planarization layer that overlies the etched surface;
- g) removing the portion of the planarization layer that overlies the ridge-waveguide structure without removing all of the portion of the planarization layer that overlies the etched surface.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.