Radiation-emitting semiconductor component

• US 7,620,087 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2005
• Issued: 11/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OSRAM OLED GMBH (Ams-Osram AG)
• Original Assignee: Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH (Ams-Osram AG)
• Inventors: Philippens, Marc, Albrecht, Tony
• Primary Examiner(s): Harvey; Minsun
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zhang; Yuanda
• Application Number:
  US11/047,833
• Publication Number:
  US 20050207461A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,751 Days
• Field of Search: 372 501- 50124, 372/43.01
• US Class Current: 372/50.1
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/15 including semiconductor components having potential barriers, specially adapted for light emission
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/08 with a plurality of light emitting regions, e.g. laterally discontinuous light emitting layer or photoluminescent region integrated within the semiconductor body H01L27/15 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 2301/18 Semiconductor lasers with special structural design for influencing the near- or far-field
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/026 Monolithically integrated components, e.g. waveguides, monitoring photo-detectors, drivers stabilisation of output H01S5/06
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/18311 using selective oxidation
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/18386 Details of the emission surface for influencing the near- or far-field, e.g. a grating on the surface

Abstract

A radiation-emitting semiconductor component comprising a semiconductor body (3) with a first active zone (1) and a second active zone (2) arranged above the first active zone, the first active zone being provided for generating a radiation having a first wavelength λ₁ (11) and the second active zone being provided for generating a radiation having a second wavelength λ₂ (22), the radiation having the first wavelength λ₁ being coherent and the radiation having the second wavelength λ₂ being incoherent.

Claims

1. A radiation-emitting semiconductor component, comprising:

a semiconductor body with a first active zone and a second active zone arranged downstream of the first active zone in the vertical direction, the first active zone being provided for generating a radiation having a first wavelength λ

₁ and the second active zone being provided for generating a radiation having a second wavelength λ

₂,

wherein the radiation having the first wavelength λ

₁ is coherent and the radiation having the second wavelength λ

₂ is incoherent, and

wherein the first active zone and the second active zone are each electrically driven, the first active zone and the second active zone are monolithically integrated into the semiconductor body, the first active zone is formed in a semiconductor structure comprising an optical resonator, and the second active zone is arranged on the semiconductor structure.

2. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second active zone is arranged in the beam path of the radiation having the wavelength λ

₁.

3. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wavelength λ

₁ is greater than the wavelength λ

₂.

4. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wavelength λ

₁ lies in the non-visible spectral range.

5. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wavelength λ

₂ lies in the visible spectral range.

6. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the semiconductor structure is formed in accordance with a semiconductor component with a vertical emission direction, in particular a vertically emitting laser.

7. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second active zone is formed in an LED structure.

8. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second active zone is formed in an LED structure.

9. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 8, wherein the LED structure is electrically conductively connected to the semiconductor structure via a connecting layer.

10. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 9, wherein the connecting layer comprises a tunnel junction that electrically conductively connects the LED structure and the semiconductor structure.

11. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and second active zones are formed such that they are jointly electrically drivable.

12. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first and second active zones are formed such that they are jointly electrically drivable.

13. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 9, wherein the connecting layer comprises a barrier junction that electrically insulates the LED structure from the semiconductor structure.

14. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 12, wherein the connecting layer comprises a barrier junction that electrically insulates the LED structure from the semiconductor structure.

15. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and second active zones are formed such that they are electrically drivable separately from one another.

16. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first and second active zones are formed such that they are electrically drivable separately from one another.

17. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the radiation-emitting semiconductor component comprises at least two electric contacts, two of the at least two electric contacts being disposed on opposite sides of the first active zone.

18. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first active zone and the second active zone are electrically connected in series.

19. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first active zone and the second active zone are electrically drivable separately from one another.

20. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the semiconductor body comprises at least one of In_xGa_yAl_1-x-yAs and In_xGa_yAl_1-x-yP , in each case where 0≦

x≦

1, 0≦

y≦

1, and x+y≦

1.

21. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 8, wherein the LED structure comprises n-conducting and p-conducting waveguide layers that guide the incoherent radiation to an increased extent in the lateral direction.

22. The radiation-emitting semiconductor component as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first active zone is formed in a laser structure comprising an n-conducting and a p-conducting mirror, the first active zone being arranged between said n-conducting mirror and said p-conducting mirror.