Lateral injection VCSEL
First Claim
1. A VCSEL comprisinga pair of multi-layered mirrors forming a cavity resonator having a resonator as perpendicular to said layers,an active region disposed within said resonator,first and second electrodes, said first electrode surrounding one said mirrors, anda current guide for directing current from said first electrode through a current aperture to said active region, thereby to generate stimulated emission of radiation which propagates along said axis, a portion of said radiation forming an output signal which emerges from the resonator through at least one of said mirrors, characterized in thatsaid current guide includes a stop-etch layer adjacent said one mirror, a first relatively highly doped layer adjacent said stop-etch layer, and a first lower doped layer adjacent said first highly doped layer, said first highly doped layer being essentially located at a node of the standing wave pattern of said radiation in said resonator.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A VCSEL comprises a pair of multi-layered mirrors forming an optical cavity resonator having its axis perpendicular to the layers of the mirrors, an active region disposed within the resonator, and a current guide for directing pumping current through an aperture to generate stimulated emission of radiation which propagates along the resonator axis. A portion of the radiation forms an output signal which emerges through at least one of the mirrors. The current guide includes a lateral injection structure disposed between one of the mirrors and the current aperture. The lateral injection structure comprises at least one relatively thin, highly doped semiconductor layer, each of the highly doped layer(s) being located at a node of the standing wave of the intracavity radiation, at least one lower doped semiconductor layer disposed adjacent each of the highly doped layers (e.g., one lower doped layer sandwiched between a pair of highly doped layers), and an etch stop layer disposed between the one mirror and the uppermost highly doped layer.
50 Citations
12 Claims
-
1. A VCSEL comprising
a pair of multi-layered mirrors forming a cavity resonator having a resonator as perpendicular to said layers, an active region disposed within said resonator, first and second electrodes, said first electrode surrounding one said mirrors, and a current guide for directing current from said first electrode through a current aperture to said active region, thereby to generate stimulated emission of radiation which propagates along said axis, a portion of said radiation forming an output signal which emerges from the resonator through at least one of said mirrors, characterized in that said current guide includes a stop-etch layer adjacent said one mirror, a first relatively highly doped layer adjacent said stop-etch layer, and a first lower doped layer adjacent said first highly doped layer, said first highly doped layer being essentially located at a node of the standing wave pattern of said radiation in said resonator.
-
10. A VCSEL comprising
first and second DBR mirrors each comprising interleaved sets of GaAs and AlAs layers of different refractive index, said mirrors forming a cavity resonator having a resonator axis perpendicular to said layers, a MQW active region disposed within said resonator, a current guide for directing current through a current aperture to said active region to generate stimulated emission of radiation which propagates along said axis, a portion of said radiation forming an output signal which emerges from said resonator through at least one of said mirrors, said current guide including an annular first electrode surrounding one of said mirrors and having an inside diameter larger than that of said current aperture, and a lateral injection structure for controlling the flow of current from said first electrode along a first path segment which is essentially perpendicular to said axis and from said first segment along a second path segment essentially parallel to said axis and then through said current aperture to said active region, said structure including a multi-layer stack disposed between said first electrode and said current aperture, said stack comprising an InGaP stop-etch layer adjacent said one mirror, a relatively thin, highly doped first GaAs layer located adjacent said stop-etch layer, a lower doped AlGaAs layer located adjacent said stop-etch layer, and a relatively thin, highly doped second GaAs layer adjacent said lower doped layer on the side thereof opposite to said first layer, each of said highly doped layers being essentially located at a different node of the standing wave of said radiation in said resonator, and a high resistivity zone disposed between said structure and said active region, said zone having an opening therein which forms said current aperture.
Specification