Nitride based semiconductor structures with highly reflective mirrors

• US 20030231683A1
• Filed: 05/30/2002
• Published: 12/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Chua, Christopher L., Bour, David P., Kneissl, Michael A.
• Granted Patent: US 6,967,981 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 372/46.01
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 20/00 Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 2301/176 Specific passivation layers on surfaces other than the emission facet
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/0216 using an intermediate compound, e.g. a glue or solder
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/0217 Removal of the substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/04253 having specific optical properties, e.g. transparent electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/04256 characterised by the configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/04257 having positive and negative electrodes on the same side of the substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/18341 Intra-cavity contacts
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/18358 containing spacer layers to adjust the phase of the light wave in the cavity
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/18369 based on dielectric materials
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/3095 Tunnel junction
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/34333 with a well layer based on Ga(In)N or Ga(In)P, e.g. blue laser
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/423 having a vertical cavity

Abstract

A nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure has highly reflective mirrors on opposite sides of the active layer. These highly reflective mirrors can be distributed Bragg reflectors or metal terminated layer stacks of dielectric materials. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure can be vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL), a light emitting diode (LED), or a photodetector (PD), or a combination of these devices.

Claims

1. A nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure comprising:

a first mirror;

a plurality of III-V nitride semiconductor layers on said first mirror, said plurality of III-V nitride semiconductor layers forming a resonant cavity, at least one of said plurality of III-V nitride semiconductor layers forming an active region;

a second mirror on said plurality of III-V nitride semiconductor layers, opposite said first mirror; and

electrodes on two of said plurality of III-V nitride semiconductor layers to bias said active region.

2. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 wherein said nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure is a vertical cavity surface emitting laser.

3. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 2 wherein a sufficient forward bias is applied to said active region to cause lasing from said resonant cavity through a surface of said semiconductor laser structure.

4. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 wherein said nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure is a light emitting diode.

5. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 4 wherein a sufficient forward bias is applied to said active region to cause light emission from said resonant cavity through a surface of said semiconductor laser structure.

6. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 wherein said nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure is a photodetector.

7. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 6 wherein a sufficient reverse bias is applied to said active region to cause light absorption from said resonant cavity.

8. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 wherein a plurality of resonant cavities are formed, said plurality of resonant cavities being at least two of said group of vertical cavity surface emitting laser, light emitting diode and photodetector.

9. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 further comprising a transparent electrode between said plurality of III-V nitride semiconductor layers and said first mirror.

10. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 9 wherein said transparent electrode is an indium tin oxide layer.

11. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 9 wherein said transparent electrode is a zinc oxide layer.

12. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 further comprising a mesh electrode between said plurality of III-V nitride semiconductor layers and said first mirror.

13. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 wherein said first mirror is a distributed Bragg reflector and said second mirror is a distributed Bragg reflector.

14. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 wherein said first mirror is a dielectric material layer on a metallic layer and said second mirror is a dielectric material layer on a metallic layer.

15. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 wherein said first mirror is a distributed Bragg reflector and said second mirror is a dielectric material layer on a metallic layer.

16. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 wherein said first mirror is a dielectric material layer on a metallic layer and said second mirror is a distributed Bragg reflector.

17. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 wherein said active region further comprises three groups of quantum wells, each group having five quantum wells.

18. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 further comprising a transparent electrode between said plurality of III-V nitride semiconductor layers and said first mirror, wherein the optical field of said light emitted from said active region is an a null at said transparent electrode.

19. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 further comprising a transparent electrode between said plurality of III-V nitride semiconductor layers and said first mirror, wherein the thickness of said transparent electrode is an integral number of the resonant half-wavelength of light emitted from said active region.

20. The nitride based resonant cavity semiconductor structure of claim 1 further comprising a metallic host substrate on said second mirror, opposite said plurality of III-V nitride semiconductor layers.