VCSEL with separate control of current distribution and optical mode
AssigneeMotorola, Inc.
InventorsDonald E. Ackley, Chan-Long Shieh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A VCSEL formed on a substrate with an upper mirror stack etched to form a mesa shaped area with material positioned on the upper mirror stack including optically transparent, electrically conductive material defining an electrical contact window to control current distribution within the laser, and material positioned on the surface of the mesa shaped area with an optical thickness selected to provide a desired mirror reflectivity profile which controls the optical mode independently of the mesa edges, thereby, providing separate control of the current and the optical mode.
Claims22
A method of manufacturing a vertical cavity surface emitting laser with control of the optical mode, comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate;
- forming a first parallel stack of mirrors on the substrate;
- forming an active and spacer layer on the first parallel mirror stack;
- forming a second parallel mirror stack on the active and spacer layer;
- and
- controlling the optical mode of the laser by depositing material on the second parallel mirror stack having an optical thickness in a range from approximately an odd multiple of a quarter wavelength to a multiple of a half wavelength at the laser emission, which optical thickness provides a predetermined reflectivity profile to control the optical mode of the laser.
A method of manufacturing a vertical cavity surface emitting laser with separate control of current distribution and optical mode, comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate;
- forming a first parallel stack of mirrors on the substrate;
- forming an active and spacer layer on the first parallel mirror stack;
- forming a second parallel mirror stack on the active and spacer layer;
- etching the second parallel mirror stack to define a mesa shaped area;
- and
- depositing material on the mesa shaped area having an optical thickness which provides a predetermined reflectivity profile for the mesa shaped area to control the optical mode of the laser, the material being deposited on the mesa shaped area including optically transparent, electrically conductive material defining an electrical contact window to control current distribution within the laser.
A method of manufacturing a vertical cavity surface emitting laser with separate control of current distribution and optical mode, comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate;
- forming a first parallel stack of mirrors on the substrate;
- forming an active and spacer layer on the first parallel mirror stack;
- forming a second parallel mirror stack on the active and spacer layer;
- determining a desired reflectivity profile for the vertical cavity surface emitting laser to control the optical mode of the laser and determining a desired current configuration;
- etching the second parallel mirror stack to define a mesa shaped area;
- depositing a layer of dielectric material on the mesa shaped area to confine current flowing in the mesa shaped area;
- etching an opening through the dielectric layer in the mesa shaped area;
- and
- depositing material on the mesa shaped area including optically transparent, electrically conductive material defining an electrical contact window to control current distribution within the laser to the desired current configuration, the dielectric material and the optically transparent, electrically conductive material being deposited to an optical thickness which provides the desired reflectivity profile for the mesa shaped area.
A vertical cavity surface emitting laser with separately controlled current distribution and optical mode, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a first parallel stack of mirrors positioned on the substrate;
- an active and spacer layer positioned on the first parallel mirror stack;
- a second parallel mirror stack positioned on the active and spacer layer, the second parallel mirror stack being etched to define a mesa shaped area;
- and
- material positioned on the mesa shaped area having an optical thickness such that the mesa shaped area has a predetermined reflectivity profile, the material positioned on the mesa shaped area including optically transparent, electrically conductive material defining an electrical contact window to control current distribution within the laser.
A vertical cavity surface emitting laser with separately controlled optical mode, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a first parallel stack of mirrors positioned on the substrate;
- an active and spacer layer positioned on the first parallel mirror stack;
- a second parallel mirror stack positioned on the active and spacer layer;
- and
- material positioned on the second parallel mirror stack having an optical thickness in a range from approximately an odd multiple of a quarter wavelength to a multiple of a half wavelength at the laser emission such that the second parallel mirror stack has a predetermined reflectivity profile.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.