Semiconductor light-emitting device having substantially planar surfaces
AssigneeEastman Kodak Company
InventorMitsukata Morishima
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A semiconductor light-emitting device is disclosed in which the lifetime of the device is increased by preventing deterioration of a current blocking layer interface caused by contamination during fabrication. The light-emitting device includes a substrate having a first surface and a stepped surface extending at an angle from the first surface formed by etching through the substrate. One of the surfaces is a (100) oriented surface and the other surface is a (111)B oriented surface. A current blocking layer is deposited by molecular beam epitaxy on the (100) oriented surface and the active layers of the device are deposited on the (111)B oriented surface. The (111)B oriented surface thereby becomes the current flow channel where oscillation occurs to generate light.
Claims17
A semiconductor light-emitting device having substantially planar surfaces, comprising:
- a substrate of a crystalline semiconductor material of a first conductivity type having a back surface and first and second front surfaces and at least one stepped front surface extending at an angle between said first and second front surfaces;
- at least one current blocking layer of a semiconductor material of a second conductivity type extending over each of the front surfaces except such front surfaces having a (111)B crystalline orientation;
- a first cladding layer of a semiconductor material of the first conductivity type extending at least across front surfaces having said (111)B crystalline orientation;
- an active layer of a semiconductor material of the second conductivity type extending at least across front surfaces having said (111)B crystalline orientation;
- a second cladding layer of a semiconductor material of the second conductivity type extending at least across front surfaces having said (111)B crystalline orientation;
- a cap layer of a semiconductor material of the second conductivity type extending over the uppermost layer on each of the front surfaces;
- a first conductive electrode layer on the cap layer;
- a second conductive electrode layer on the back surface of the substrate;
- and
- the first and second electrodes being arranged so that in response to a bias voltage between them the device produces a light emission.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.