Visible light semiconductor laser

Abstract

A visible light semiconductor laser includes a GaAs substrate having a surface making a first angle with a (100) surface toward the [011] direction. A semiconductor layer having a surface making a second angle smaller than the first angle with the (100) surface is disposed on a part of the first surface of the GaAs substrate. The semiconductor layer extends in the [011] direction and does not reach the opposite resonator facets of the laser. A first AlGaInP active layer is disposed on the the surface making the second angle with the (100) surface of the semiconductor layer, and the first active layer includes regularly ordered atoms. A second AlGaInP active layer is disposed on the first surface of the GaAs substrate. The second active layer includes disordered atoms and has a band gap energy larger than that of the first active layer. The second active layer serves as a window layer. In this structure, the ordered region and the disordered region of the active layer are produced according to the surface orientation of the underlying crystal layer. As a result, a laser structure in which the disordered region of the active layer is used as a window layer can be fabricated with high uniformity and high reproducibility.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.