Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to provide a long-wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser, which can simply prepare a long-wavelength VCSEL laser; another object of the present invention is to provide a method for fabricating a long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser, which can simply fabricate a long wavelength VCSEL laser.
To solve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser, including:
a DBR mirror;
a lower current injection layer on the surface of the DBR mirror;
a light emitting region on a surface of the lower current injection layer opposite to the DBR mirror;
an upper current injection layer on a surface of the light emitting region opposite to the DBR mirror;
the reflection grating is positioned on the surface of one side, back to the DBR reflector, of the upper current injection layer and is provided with a light emitting area; the wavelength of the reflected light of the reflection grating is the same as that of the reflected light of the DBR reflector, and the reflectivity of the reflection grating is smaller than that of the DBR reflector.
Optionally, the reflectivity of the reflection grating ranges from 95% to 99%, inclusive.
Optionally, a step surface is formed on a surface of the lower current injection layer, which faces away from the DBR mirror, and a lower electrode is disposed on the step surface; and an upper electrode is arranged on the surface of one side of the upper current injection layer, which faces away from the DBR reflector.
Optionally, the light emitting region is a quantum well light emitting region or a quantum dot light emitting region.
Optionally, at least two light emitting regions are disposed on a surface of the lower current injection layer opposite to the DBR mirror, and adjacent light emitting regions are isolated from each other; the surface of one side of any light emitting region, which faces away from the DBR reflector, is provided with the corresponding upper current injection layer; and the light emitting region of one side surface of any upper current injection layer, which faces away from the DBR reflector, is provided with the corresponding reflection grating.
Optionally, at least two mutually isolated reflection gratings are disposed on a surface of the upper current injection layer opposite to the DBR mirror, and a distance between adjacent reflection gratings is not greater than a diffusion distance of a current in the upper current injection layer; the distance between adjacent reflection gratings is not more than the diffusion distance of the current in the lower current injection layer.
The invention also provides a preparation method of the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser, which comprises the following steps:
growing the DBR reflector by an epitaxial growth process;
epitaxially growing a lower current injection layer on the surface of the DBR reflector;
epitaxially growing a light emitting region on the surface of one side, back to the DBR reflector, of the lower current injection layer;
epitaxially growing an upper current injection layer on the surface of the light emitting region on the side opposite to the DBR reflector;
epitaxially growing a grating layer on the surface of one side, back to the DBR reflector, of the upper current injection layer region;
etching the grating layer to remove the grating layer of the non-light-emitting area on the surface of one side, back to the DBR reflector, of the upper current injection layer;
etching a grating layer of a light emitting area on the surface of one side, back to the DBR reflector, of the upper current injection layer into a reflection grating so as to manufacture the long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor laser; the wavelength of the reflected light of the reflection grating is the same as that of the reflected light of the DBR reflector, and the reflectivity of the reflection grating is smaller than that of the DBR reflector.
Optionally, after the grating layer is epitaxially grown on the surface of the upper current injection layer region opposite to the DBR mirror, the method further includes:
sequentially etching the grating layer, the upper current injection layer and the light emitting region from the surface of the side, back to the DBR reflector, of the grating layer so as to form a step surface on the surface of the side, back to the DBR reflector, of the lower current injection layer;
arranging a lower electrode on the surface of the step surface;
after etching the grating layer, the method further comprises:
and an upper electrode is arranged in a non-light-emitting area of the surface of the upper current injection layer, which faces away from the DBR reflector.
The invention provides a long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor laser which sequentially comprises a DBR reflector, a lower current injection layer, a light emitting region, an upper current injection layer and a reflection grating from bottom to top, wherein the DBR reflector and the reflection grating are oppositely arranged, the wavelength of the reflection light of the reflection grating is the same as that of the DBR reflector, and the reflectivity of the reflection grating is smaller than that of the DBR reflector. At this time, the light generated by the light emitting region in the region between the reflective grating and the DBR mirror oscillates between the reflective grating and the DBR mirror to generate laser light, and the light exits the semiconductor laser from the reflective grating because the reflectivity of the reflective grating is smaller than that of the DBR mirror, i.e., the position of the light exit hole in the semiconductor laser. The reflection grating has a simple structure and a simple preparation process, so that the preparation of the light-emitting hole of the long-wavelength VCSEL laser can be greatly simplified, and the preparation cost of the long-wavelength VCSEL laser is reduced.
The invention also provides a preparation method of the long-wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser, and the prepared long-wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser also has the beneficial effects, and the description is omitted.
Detailed Description
The core of the invention is to provide a long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser. In the prior art, the VCSEL laser with long wavelength is usually made of InP-based materials, and such materials cannot adopt the side oxidation process commonly used for near infrared band VCSELs to prepare the light emitting holes. The current general method is to prepare a tunnel junction conducting layer with extremely high doping concentration near a light emitting region, etch the tunnel junction conducting layer by an etching method, reserve a part of the tunnel junction conducting layer, and then continue to grow a light emitting region material layer above the tunnel junction conducting layer. After the light-emitting area material layer is grown, an optical reflector composed of multiple thin films is prepared above the light-emitting area. Thus, the position of the light emitting hole of the light emitting region is determined by the position of the highly doped tunnel junction conductive layer. Therefore, the process involves two very difficult processes, namely a material preparation process with ultrahigh doping concentration and a secondary epitaxial process of a light emitting region. The high doping easily causes the internal defects of the material, affects the reliability, the doping atoms have strong absorption effect on light, the position of the high doped tunnel junction material layer must be accurately controlled at the position of a standing wave node of the oscillation light, the position deviation of a few nanometers can cause the absorption coefficient of the laser to be greatly increased, and the light emitting performance of the laser is rapidly attenuated. Therefore, the current long wavelength VCSEL laser is limited by the above manufacturing process, and has a very difficult development and a very high manufacturing cost.
The invention provides a long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser, which sequentially comprises a DBR reflector, a lower current injection layer, a light emitting region, an upper current injection layer and a reflection grating from bottom to top, wherein the DBR reflector and the reflection grating are oppositely arranged, the wavelength of the reflection light of the reflection grating is the same as that of the DBR reflector, and the reflectivity of the reflection grating is smaller than that of the DBR reflector. At this time, the light generated by the light emitting region in the region between the reflective grating and the DBR mirror oscillates between the reflective grating and the DBR mirror to generate laser light, and the light exits the semiconductor laser from the reflective grating because the reflectivity of the reflective grating is smaller than that of the DBR mirror, i.e., the position of the light exit hole in the semiconductor laser. The reflection grating has a simple structure and a simple preparation process, so that the preparation of the light-emitting hole of the long-wavelength VCSEL laser can be greatly simplified, and the preparation cost of the long-wavelength VCSEL laser is reduced.
In order that those skilled in the art will better understand the disclosure, the invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It is to be understood that the described embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, and not restrictive of the full scope of the invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 1, in the embodiment of the present invention, a long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser includes a DBR mirror 1; a lower current injection layer 2 on the surface of the DBR mirror 1; a light emitting region 3 on a surface of the lower current injection layer 2 facing away from the DBR mirror 1; an upper current injection layer 4 on the surface of the light emitting region 3 opposite to the DBR mirror 1; the reflection grating 5 is positioned on the surface of one side, back to the DBR reflector 1, of the upper current injection layer 4 and is provided with a light emitting area; the wavelength of the reflected light of the reflection grating 5 is the same as that of the reflected light of the DBR reflector 1, and the reflectivity of the reflection grating 5 is smaller than that of the DBR reflector 1.
The DBR mirror 1 is generally formed by stacking a plurality of layers with different reflectivities in a periodic arrangement, and for the specific structure of the DBR mirror 1, reference may be made to the prior art, and details are not repeated herein. In the embodiment of the present invention, the DBR mirror 1 has a predetermined wavelength of reflected light, that is, the DBR mirror 1 has an extremely high reflectivity for light of a predetermined wavelength, that is, a wavelength of laser light generated by the semiconductor laser.
The lower current injection layer 2 is located on the surface of the DBR mirror 1, and the lower current injection layer 2 is generally used to inject carriers into the light emitting region 3. For the specific material of the lower current injection layer 2, reference may be made to the prior art, and further description thereof is omitted here.
The light emitting region 3 is located on the surface of the lower current injection layer 2 opposite to the DBR mirror 1, and the upper current injection layer 4 is located on the surface of the light emitting region 3 opposite to the DBR mirror 1. At this time, the lower current injection layer 2 and the upper current injection layer 4 are disposed opposite to each other, and the light emitting region 3 is sandwiched between the lower current injection layer 2 and the upper current injection layer 4, thereby forming a sandwich structure. The upper current injection layer 4 is generally used to inject carriers into the light emitting region 3, and the light emitting region 3 may generate laser light. Specifically, the carriers transmitted by the lower current input layer and the carriers transmitted by the upper current injection layer 4 are coupled in the light emitting region 3, so as to generate light with a predetermined wavelength. It should be noted that the nature of the carriers transported by the lower current injection layer is generally opposite to that of the carriers transported by the upper current injection layer 4. For the specific structure and specific material of the light emitting region 3 and the upper current injection layer 4, reference may be made to the prior art, and further description thereof is omitted here. In general, the light emitting region 3 in the embodiment of the present invention is typically a quantum well light emitting region 3 or a quantum dot light emitting region 3. That is, the structure of the light emitting region 3 may be a quantum well structure or a quantum dot structure, and is not particularly limited in the embodiment of the present invention. Of course, the specific structure of the light emitting region 3 in the embodiment of the present invention is not particularly limited as long as the light with the predetermined wavelength can be generated.
The reflection grating 5 is located in a predetermined light-emitting region on the surface of the upper current injection layer 4 opposite to the DBR mirror 1, and normally, a light-emitting region, which is a predetermined position of a light-emitting hole in the semiconductor laser, and a non-light-emitting region, in which no laser light is emitted from the semiconductor laser in the non-light-emitting region, are defined on the surface of the upper current input layer. Specifically, the reflection grating 5 is provided only in the light exit region previously defined on the surface of the upper current injection layer 4. The reflective grating 5 and the DBR mirror 1 are disposed opposite to each other, and light generated in the light emitting region 3 in a region between the reflective grating 5 and the DBR mirror 1 oscillates between the reflective grating 5 and the DBR mirror 1 to generate laser light. It should be noted that the reflection grating 5 is also a structure having a very high reflectivity for light with a specific wavelength, and reference may be made to the prior art for a specific structure of the reflection grating 5, which is not described herein again.
Specifically, the wavelength of the light reflected by the reflective grating 5 and the wavelength of the light reflected by the DBR mirror 1 need to be the same, and usually, the wavelength of the light emitted by the light emitting region 3 needs to be equal to that of the light emitted by the light emitting region, so as to ensure that the light can oscillate between the reflective grating 5 and the DBR mirror 1. Meanwhile, the reflectivity of the reflective grating 5 needs to be smaller than that of the DBR mirror 1, so as to ensure that the laser light can finally exit the semiconductor laser from the reflective grating 5. Specifically, in the embodiment of the present invention, the reflectivity of the reflection grating 5 generally ranges from 95% to 99%, inclusive. I.e. the reflectivity of the reflective grating 5 may be exactly 95% or 99%, and any value in between, although the reflectivity of the DBR mirror 1 needs to be greater than the reflectivity of the reflective grating 5 in embodiments of the invention.
In general, in the embodiment of the present invention, the surface of the lower current injection layer 2 facing away from the DBR mirror 1 has a step surface, and the step surface is provided with a lower electrode 6; the upper current injection layer 4 is provided with an upper electrode 7 on the surface of the side facing away from the DBR mirror 1.
The lower electrode 6 needs to be electrically connected to the lower current injection layer 2, and the upper electrode 7 needs to be electrically connected to the upper current injection layer 4, so that an operator can inject current into the light emitting region 3 through the upper electrode 7 and the lower electrode 6. Specifically, the size of the light emitting region 3 is smaller than that of the lower current injection layer 2, so that a step surface is formed on the surface of the lower current injection layer 2 facing away from the DBR mirror 1, and the lower electrode 6 is disposed on the step surface, so that the lower electrode 6 and the lower current injection layer 2 are in contact with each other to form electrical connection. The upper electrode 7 is usually disposed on the surface of the upper current injection layer 4 opposite to the DBR mirror 1, and is usually a non-light-emitting region on the surface of the upper current injection layer 4 opposite to the DBR mirror 1, so as to be in contact with the upper current injection layer 4 and electrically connected thereto. During use, an operator supplies power to the semiconductor laser through the upper electrode 7 and the lower electrode 6 to inject carriers into the light emitting region 3 to generate light which oscillates between the reflective grating 5 and the DBR mirror 1, and the formed laser light exits the semiconductor laser through the reflective grating 5.
The long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser provided by the embodiment of the invention sequentially comprises a DBR reflector 1, a lower current injection layer 2, a light emitting region 3, an upper current injection layer 4 and a reflection grating 5 from bottom to top, wherein the DBR reflector 1 and the reflection grating 5 are oppositely arranged, the wavelength of the reflection light of the reflection grating 5 is the same as that of the reflection light of the DBR reflector 1, and the reflectivity of the reflection grating 5 is smaller than that of the DBR reflector 1. At this time, the light generated in the region of the light emitting region 3 located between the reflective grating 5 and the DBR mirror 1 oscillates between the reflective grating 5 and the DBR mirror 1 to generate laser light, and since the reflectivity of the reflective grating 5 is smaller than that of the DBR mirror 1, the light exits the semiconductor laser from the reflective grating 5, and the position of the reflective grating 5 is the position of the light exit hole in the semiconductor laser. The reflection grating 5 has a simple structure and a simple preparation process, so that the preparation of the light-emitting hole of the long-wavelength VCSEL laser can be greatly simplified, and the preparation cost of the long-wavelength VCSEL laser is reduced.
The detailed structure of the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser provided by the present invention will be described in detail in the following embodiments of the invention.
Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a specific long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The present invention is different from the above-described embodiments, and the structure of the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser is further specifically defined on the basis of the above-described embodiments. The rest of the contents are already described in detail in the above embodiments of the present invention, and are not described herein again.
Referring to fig. 2, in the embodiment of the present invention, at least two light emitting regions 3 are disposed on a surface of the lower current injection layer 2 opposite to the DBR mirror 1, and adjacent light emitting regions 3 are isolated from each other; the surface of any light emitting region 3, which faces away from the DBR mirror 1, is provided with the corresponding upper current injection layer 4; the light emitting region of any one of the upper current injection layers 4 on the surface opposite to the DBR mirror 1 side is provided with the corresponding reflection grating 5.
In the embodiment of the present invention, the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser has a plurality of light emitting points, wherein the structure shown in fig. 2 exemplifies two light emitting points. Of course, more light emitting points can be arranged in the embodiment of the invention to form a long wavelength VCSEL array structure with any number of light emitting points. Specifically, in the embodiment of the present invention, at least two light emitting regions 3 are disposed on the surface of the lower current injection layer 2 opposite to the DBR mirror 1, that is, one lower current injection layer 2 is shared by a plurality of light emitting points, and the corresponding lower electrode 6 on the surface of the lower current injection layer 2 is also commonly shared by a plurality of light emitting points.
In the embodiment of the present invention, a surface of each light emitting region 3 facing away from the DBR mirror 1 is provided with a corresponding upper current injection layer 4, and a surface of each upper current injection layer 4 facing away from the DBR mirror 1 is provided with a corresponding reflection grating 5. And a structure in which each of the light emitting region 3, the upper current injection layer 4, and the reflection grating 5 is stacked constitutes a light emitting spot for emitting laser light, except for the common lower current injection layer 2. That is, the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser provided by the embodiment of the present invention is equivalent to a structure formed by a plurality of small long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor lasers, wherein the plurality of small long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor lasers share the same DBR mirror 1 and the same lower current injection layer 2.
It should be noted that the adjacent light emitting areas need to be isolated from each other to ensure that no current crosstalk occurs between the adjacent light emitting points. Accordingly, at least one upper electrode 7 is generally required to be disposed on each of the upper current injection layer 4 surfaces to ensure that each light emitting point can be used.
According to the long-wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser provided by the embodiment of the invention, a plurality of mutually isolated light emitting areas 3 are arranged, and the upper current injection layer 4 and the reflection grating 5 are sequentially arranged on the surface of each light emitting area 3, so that a plurality of light emitting points can be integrated in one long-wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser, and a long-wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser array is formed.
The detailed structure of the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser provided by the present invention will be described in detail in the following embodiments of the invention.
Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of another specific long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser according to an embodiment of the invention.
The present invention is different from the above-described embodiments, and the structure of the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser is further specifically defined on the basis of the above-described embodiments. The rest of the contents are already described in detail in the above embodiments of the present invention, and are not described herein again.
Referring to fig. 3, in the embodiment of the present invention, at least two mutually isolated reflection gratings 5 are disposed on a surface of the upper current injection layer 4 opposite to the DBR mirror 1, and a distance between adjacent reflection gratings 5 is not greater than a diffusion distance of a current in the upper current injection layer 4; the distance between adjacent reflection gratings 5 is not greater than the diffusion distance of the current in the lower current injection layer 2.
In the embodiment of the present invention, at least two reflective gratings 5 are disposed on a surface of the common upper current injection layer 4 opposite to the DBR mirror 1, each of the reflective gratings 5 corresponds to a light emitting point, and the light emitting points share the DBR mirror 1, the lower current injection layer 2, the light emitting region 3 and the upper current injection layer 4. At this time, since the light emitting region 3 is shared between different light emitting points, the light generated by the light emitting region 3 will propagate between different light emitting points, which is equivalent to that the light emitting points are not isolated from each other.
In this case, in the embodiment of the present invention, the light generated by the light emitting region 3 not only oscillates between the DBR mirror 1 and the different reflective gratings 5, but also a certain proportion of the light is transmitted between the adjacent light emitting points in the lateral direction. At this time, the laser beams oscillating between the DBR mirror 1 and the different reflective gratings 5 are locked to each other, so that the same-phase oscillation is realized, and two coherent laser beams with the same phase are finally formed. Accordingly, the semiconductor laser provided by the embodiment of the invention can form a long wavelength VCSEL coherent array with any number of luminous points.
It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the distance between adjacent reflection gratings 5 needs to be not greater than the diffusion distance of the current in the upper current injection layer 4; while the distance between adjacent reflection gratings 5 needs to be not more than the diffusion distance of the current in the lower current injection layer 2. The distance between the adjacent reflection gratings 5 is limited within the above range, so that the electrically stable current injection is ensured below the two reflection gratings 5, laser oscillation can be realized, and a plurality of coherent laser beams with the same phase are ensured to be output.
According to the long-wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser provided by the embodiment of the invention, the plurality of reflection gratings 5 are arranged on the surface of the upper current input layer, and the distance between the adjacent reflection gratings 5 is controlled, so that a plurality of coherent laser beams with the same output phase can be realized, and a long-wavelength VCSEL coherent array is formed.
The following describes a method for fabricating a long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser according to the present invention, and the fabrication method described below and the structure of the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser described above can be referred to with each other.
Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for fabricating a long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 4, in an embodiment of the present invention, a method of fabricating the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser includes:
s101: the DBR mirror is grown by an epitaxial growth process.
In this step, a DBR mirror is epitaxially grown on the substrate surface, typically based on an epitaxial growth process. For the structure of the DBR mirror and the specific epitaxial growth process, reference may be made to the prior art, and details are not repeated here.
S102: and epitaxially growing a lower current injection layer on the surface of the DBR mirror.
S103: and epitaxially growing a light emitting region on the surface of the lower current injection layer opposite to the side of the DBR reflector.
S104: and epitaxially growing an upper current injection layer on the surface of the light emitting region opposite to the side of the DBR reflector.
S105: and epitaxially growing a grating layer on the surface of one side of the upper current injection layer region, which is back to the DBR reflector.
In the embodiment of the present invention, the lower current injection layer, the light emitting region, the upper current injection layer, and the grating layer are epitaxially grown on the surface of the DBR mirror in sequence along the normal direction of the DBR mirror, usually based on an epitaxial growth process. The detailed structures of the lower current injection layer, the light emitting region and the upper current injection layer are described in detail in the above embodiments of the invention, and are not described herein again.
The grating layer, i.e., the pre-structure of the reflective grating in the embodiment of the present invention, is etched in the subsequent steps to prepare the reflective grating.
S106: and etching the grating layer to remove the grating layer of the non-light-emitting area on the surface of one side of the upper current injection layer, which is back to the DBR reflector.
In this step, the grating layer of the non-light-emitting area on the surface of the upper current injection layer opposite to the DBR mirror is usually removed by a mask preparation and dry etching method, and only the grating layer of the light-emitting area on the surface of the upper current injection layer opposite to the DBR mirror is remained. The purpose of this step is to determine the position of the final exit aperture, in which the position of the grating layer, i.e. the exit aperture in the semiconductor laser, is preserved.
S107: and etching the grating layer of the light emitting area on the surface of the upper current injection layer, which is back to one side of the DBR reflector, into a reflection grating so as to manufacture the long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor laser.
In an embodiment of the present invention, a wavelength of reflected light of the reflection grating is the same as a wavelength of reflected light of the DBR mirror, and a reflectivity of the reflection grating is smaller than a reflectivity of the DBR mirror. The detailed parameters of the reflective grating and the DBR mirror are described in detail in the above embodiments of the invention, and are not further described herein.
In this step, the remaining grating layer in S106 is etched into a reflective grating by a grating mask preparation and dry etching method, so as to complete the preparation of the long-wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser. For the specific preparation process of the reflective grating, reference may be made to the prior art, and further description is omitted here.
The long-wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser provided by the embodiment of the invention sequentially comprises a DBR reflector, a lower current injection layer, a light emitting region, an upper current injection layer and a reflection grating from bottom to top, wherein the DBR reflector and the reflection grating are arranged oppositely, the wavelength of the reflection light of the reflection grating is the same as that of the DBR reflector, and the reflectivity of the reflection grating is smaller than that of the DBR reflector. At this time, the light generated by the light emitting region in the region between the reflective grating and the DBR mirror oscillates between the reflective grating and the DBR mirror to generate laser light, and the light exits the semiconductor laser from the reflective grating because the reflectivity of the reflective grating is smaller than that of the DBR mirror, i.e., the position of the light exit hole in the semiconductor laser. The reflection grating has a simple structure and a simple preparation process, so that the preparation of the light-emitting hole of the long-wavelength VCSEL laser can be greatly simplified, and the preparation cost of the long-wavelength VCSEL laser is reduced.
The details of the method for fabricating a long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser according to the present invention will be described in detail in the following embodiments of the invention.
Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for fabricating a long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 5, in an embodiment of the present invention, a method of fabricating the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser includes:
s201: the DBR mirror is grown by an epitaxial growth process.
S202: and epitaxially growing a lower current injection layer on the surface of the DBR mirror.
S203: and epitaxially growing a light emitting region on the surface of the lower current injection layer opposite to the side of the DBR reflector.
S204: and epitaxially growing an upper current injection layer on the surface of the light emitting region opposite to the side of the DBR reflector.
S205: and epitaxially growing a grating layer on the surface of one side of the upper current injection layer region, which is back to the DBR reflector.
S201 to S205 are substantially the same as S101 to S105 in the above embodiment of the invention, and for details, reference is made to the above embodiment of the invention, which is not repeated herein.
S206: and etching the grating layer, the upper current injection layer and the light emitting region in sequence from the surface of the grating layer on the side back to the DBR reflector so as to form a step surface on the surface of the lower current injection layer on the side back to the DBR reflector.
In this step, the structures are etched sequentially, usually by a mask preparation and dry etching method, to expose the surface of the lower current injection layer opposite to the DBR mirror. At this time, a step surface is formed on the surface of the lower current injection layer facing away from the DBR mirror. For the specific etching process, reference may be made to the prior art, and details are not repeated herein. In this step, the grating layer, the upper current injection layer, and the light emitting region are sequentially etched from above the entire semiconductor laser to expose a portion of the lower current injection layer.
It should be noted that, in this step, if the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser array is to be finally formed, the light emitting region, the upper current injection layer and the grating layer are etched into a specific columnar array structure, and a reflective grating is prepared on the surface of each upper current injection layer in the subsequent step, so as to form the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser array.
S207: and a lower electrode is arranged on the surface of the step surface.
In this step, a lower electrode is disposed on the step surface exposed in S206, and the lower electrode is usually required to form an ohmic contact with the lower current injection layer to reduce the resistance between the lower electrode and the lower current injection layer. For the specific preparation process of the lower electrode, reference may be made to the prior art, and further description is omitted here.
S208: and etching the grating layer to remove the grating layer of the non-light-emitting area on the surface of one side of the upper current injection layer, which is back to the DBR reflector.
This step is substantially the same as S106 in the above embodiment of the present invention, and for details, reference is made to the above embodiment of the present invention, which is not repeated herein. In this step, a portion of the grating layer is etched to expose a portion of the upper current injection layer.
It should be noted that, in this step, if the long wavelength VCSEL coherent array is to be finally formed, it is necessary to etch a plurality of grating layers meeting a predetermined pitch in this step, and etch the plurality of grating layers into a reflective grating in a subsequent step, so as to form the long wavelength VCSEL coherent array.
S209: and an upper electrode is arranged in a non-light-emitting area on the surface of one side of the upper current injection layer, which is back to the DBR reflector.
In this step, an upper electrode is disposed on the exposed surface of the upper current injection layer, and the upper electrode is usually required to form an ohmic contact with the upper current injection layer, so as to reduce the resistance between the upper electrode and the upper current injection layer. The specific preparation process of the upper electrode can refer to the prior art, and is not described herein again.
S210: and etching the grating layer of the light emitting area on the surface of the upper current injection layer, which is back to one side of the DBR reflector, into a reflection grating so as to manufacture the long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor laser.
This step is substantially the same as S107 in the above embodiment of the present invention, and details have been described in the above embodiment of the present invention, and are not described herein again.
The preparation method of the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser provided by the embodiment of the invention can be used for preparing a long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser array or a long wavelength VCSEL coherent array.
The embodiments are described in a progressive manner, each embodiment focuses on differences from other embodiments, and the same or similar parts among the embodiments are referred to each other.
Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both, and that the various illustrative components and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality in order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.
The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in Random Access Memory (RAM), memory, Read Only Memory (ROM), electrically programmable ROM, electrically erasable programmable ROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art.
Finally, it should also be noted that, herein, relational terms such as first and second, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Also, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.
The present invention provides a long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser and a method for manufacturing the long wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting semiconductor laser. The principles and embodiments of the present invention are explained herein using specific examples, which are presented only to assist in understanding the method and its core concepts. It should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, it is possible to make various improvements and modifications to the present invention without departing from the principle of the present invention, and those improvements and modifications also fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention.