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US 6,724,013 B2Granted
Edge-emitting nitride-based laser diode with p-n tunnel junction current injection
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorsMichael A. Kneissl, Peter Kiesel, Christian G. Van de Walle
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Abstract
A p-n tunnel junction between a p-type semiconductor layer and a n-type semiconductor layer provides current injection for an edge-emitting nitride based semiconductor laser structure. The amount of p-type material in the nitride based semiconductor laser structure can be minimized, with attendant advantages in electrical, thermal, and optical performance, and in fabrication.
Claims13
A semiconductor laser structure comprising:
- a substrate;
- a plurality of III-V nitride semiconductor layers formed on said substrate, at least one of said plurality of III-V nitride semiconductor layers forms an active region over a n-type cladding layer;
- a first semiconductor layer being p-type nitride material formed on the active region, the first semiconductor layer including a blocking layer to prevent leakage of electrons injected into the active layer from leaking out of the blocking layer, the first semiconductor layer further including a hole injection layer over the blocking layer, the bandgap of the blocking layer being larger than the bandgap of the hole injection layer;
- a second semiconductor layer formed on said first semiconductor layer, said second semiconductor layer being an n-type nitride, a tunnel junction disposed between said first semiconductor layer and said second semiconductor layer for injecting current into said active region, said blocking layer preventing electrons from leaking from said blocking layer to the tunnel junction;
- and
- wherein a sufficient forward bias is applied to said active region to cause lasing from an edge of said semiconductor laser structure.
3 more elements
A semiconductor laser comprising:
- a substrate;
- a first n-type III-V compound nitride layer deposited over the substrate;
- an active region formed over the first n-type III-V compound nitride layer;
- a p-type III-V compound nitride layer deposited over the active region, the p-type III-V compound nitride layer including a blocking layer with a bandgap larger than the bandgap of the first n-type III-V compound nitride layer to prevent electrons injected into the active region from leaking past the blocking layer and reaching a tunnel junction, the p-type III-V compound nitride layer further including a hole-injection layer over the blocking layer, the hole-injection layer having a bandgap smaller than the bandgap of the blocking layer;
- a second n-type III-V compound nitride layer formed over the p-type III-V compound nitride layer the second n-type III-V compound nitride layer forming a tunnel diode with the hole-injection layer.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.