JPH07153994A - Semiconductor light-emitting element and light-emitting device using it - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a light-emitting diode array having a structure in which light-emitting diodes are formed at equal intervals even if they have burrs on both end faces. CONSTITUTION:In a light-emitting diode array 1, a plurality of light-emitting diodes to become light-emitting parts 3 are formed on a semiconductor substrate 2 at fixed intervals D1. Further, both endfaces 4, 4 in the arrangement direction of the light-emitting parts 3 are so shaped to have a prescribed angle theta(0 deg.<theta<90 deg.) to the arrangement direction of the light-emitting parts 3. Since both of these end faces 4, 4 are formed by cleavage while generating a burrs, every light-emitting diode is to be aligned while being shifted in the direction of both end faces 4, 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor light emitting device having a plurality of light emitting parts arranged at regular intervals and a light emitting device having a plurality of the semiconductor light emitting devices arranged in the direction of arrangement of the light emitting parts. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a light emitting device used for a light source for an optical printer, there is a light emitting diode array in which a plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged on a semiconductor substrate at regular intervals. In such a light emitting device, usually, a plurality of light emitting diode arrays are arranged in the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions. When a plurality of light emitting diode arrays are arranged in this way to form a light emitting device, it is necessary to make the light emitting portion spacing between the light emitting diode arrays equal to the light emitting portion spacing on the light emitting diode array. By the way, the light emitting diode array is
Higher integration of the light-emitting section accompanying downsizing of the device and higher image quality (for example, in the case of about 500 dpi, the light-emitting section spacing is 50
μm) is required. For this reason, it is desirable to make both end surfaces of the semiconductor substrate, which is the connecting portion of the light emitting diode array, as flat as possible. Both end surfaces of this semiconductor substrate are cut surfaces when a large number of light emitting diode arrays formed on the wafer are divided from the wafer, and it is necessary to use a cutting method that makes the cut surfaces as flat as possible. Conventionally, there is a dicing method as one of the wafer cutting methods. However, this dicing method has a problem that distortion remains in the vicinity of the cut surface, and it is difficult to use it as a method of cutting both end surfaces in a highly integrated light emitting diode array.

Further, as another cutting method, there has been conventionally known a method by so-called cleavage in which a scratch is made parallel to the semiconductor crystal axis direction and the scratched portion is pressed. When a semiconductor crystal is cut by using this cleavage, no distortion remains on the cut surface, and the cut surface becomes flat. Therefore, as a method of cutting both end surfaces of a highly integrated light emitting diode array, Optimal.

[0004]

However, even if this cleavage is used, as shown in FIG. 6, a burr 6 having a maximum size of about 4 .mu.m actually occurs on the end surface 4. As shown in FIG. If the light emitting diode arrays 41 having the maximum burrs of 4 μm are connected and arranged in this manner, the light emitting portion distance D2 of the light emitting portions 3 near the connecting portion is 8 μm in total compared with the light emitting portion distance D1 on the light emitting diode array 41. It will be expanded by that amount. Considering this in the case of 500 dpi, the value is about 20% of the light emitting portion interval of 40 μm and cannot be ignored. Therefore, in consideration of the amount of burr 6 generated, the position to be cut by cleavage may be brought closer to the light emitting part 3, but the interval of the light emitting parts of the light emitting diode array cannot be made smaller than the amount of burr generated. Will occur.

Therefore, the present invention has been made by paying attention to the above points, and has a structure capable of arranging the light emitting portions so that the light emitting portions are arranged at equal intervals even if burrs are generated on both end surfaces. It is intended to provide a diode array. That is, when forming the light emitting device by arranging the light emitting diode arrays, pay attention to the fact that the allowable range of the dot deviation in the direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the light emitting units 3 has some margin as compared with the arrangement direction of the light emitting units 3. By arranging the light emitting diode arrays so as to be shifted in the direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the light emitting units 3, the light emitting diode arrays are configured so that the light emitting units can be spaced at equal intervals. Further, in the light emitting device, by using such a light emitting diode array, a uniform light emitting portion interval is formed.

[0006]

As a means for achieving the above object, the present invention provides a semiconductor light emitting device having a plurality of light emitting portions arranged on a semiconductor substrate at regular intervals, wherein the semiconductor light emitting device is When viewed in a plane, the direction of both end surfaces in the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions of the semiconductor substrate is
An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor light emitting device characterized in that it is aligned with the cleavage direction of the semiconductor substrate and has a predetermined angle with respect to the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions.

As a means for achieving the above object, the present invention has a plurality of light emitting portions arranged on a semiconductor substrate at regular intervals, and both ends of the semiconductor substrate in the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions. A light emitting device having a configuration in which a plurality of semiconductor light emitting elements whose surfaces have a predetermined angle with respect to the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions are arranged in the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions, wherein An object of the present invention is to provide a light emitting device characterized by arranging semiconductor light emitting elements so as to be shifted toward a terminal surface of a semiconductor substrate.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the structure of a light emitting diode array according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure,
The light emitting diode array 1 includes a light emitting section 3 on a semiconductor substrate 2.
A plurality of light emitting diodes are formed at regular intervals D1. Further, both end faces 4, 4 in the arrangement direction of the light emitting unit 3
Is a predetermined angle θ (0 ° <θ with respect to the arrangement direction of the light emitting units 3
It has a shape with <90 °. That is, when the light emitting diode array 1 is viewed in a plane, both end faces 4 and 4 are formed so that the substrate 2 forms a parallelogram. The directions of the both end surfaces 4 and 4 are formed so as to coincide with the crystal axis direction of the substrate 2. That is, the two end surface portions 4,
Reference numeral 4 denotes an end face formed by cutting by cleavage, but as shown in the figure, a burr 6 of about 4 μm at maximum is generated. A light emitting device formed by arranging a plurality of the light emitting diode arrays 1 will be described later.

Here, in order to form the light emitting diode array 1, the mask pattern of the light emitting diode array 1 is printed according to the crystal axis direction of the wafer.
As shown in FIG. 2A, the wafer 11 is preliminarily formed with a notch 12 indicating the crystal axis direction, and the direction of the notch 12 and the arrangement direction of the light emitting units 3 are a predetermined angle θ (for example, 45 °), a mask pattern for forming the light emitting diode array 1 is printed, and a large number of light emitting diode arrays 1 are formed on the wafer 11 (FIG. 2B).
The light emitting portion 3 of the light emitting diode array 1 is formed in the same manner as the conventional method for forming a light emitting diode. An enlarged view of the surface of the wafer 11 on which a large number of light emitting portions 3 are formed is shown in FIG. In order to divide the light emitting diode array 1 from the wafer 11 on which a large number of light emitting diode arrays 1 are formed as shown in FIG. 3C, a separation line 14 shown by a dashed line in the drawing is scratched with a scriber or the like. It suffices to pressurize (cleave) the scratched portion and cut the separating line 15 shown by the dotted line in the figure using a mechanical separating means such as a dicing saw. The separation lines 14 are both side surfaces 4, 4 of the light emitting diode array 1, and the separation lines 15 are both side surfaces 5, 5 (see FIG. 1). By the way, since the separation line 14 is aligned with the crystal axis direction of the wafer 11, its sectional surface is divided by cleavage, but the burr 6 of about 4 μm at maximum is generated as described above. Therefore,
The light emitting diode arrays 1 are arranged by the following method.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of a light emitting device having a plurality of the light emitting diode arrays 1 arranged side by side. A light emitting device 21 shown in FIG. 3B has a configuration in which the light emitting diode arrays 1A to 1C are arranged in the arrangement direction of the light emitting units 3. In the light emitting diode arrays 1A to 1C, the light emitting portion interval D1 = 50 μm, the light emitting portion size of the light emitting portion 3 = 20 μm.
Thus, the two end surfaces 4, 4 and the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions 3 form an angle θ = 45 °. Both end faces 4 of the light emitting diode arrays 1A to 1C of the light emitting device 21.
4 has a maximum burr 6 of about 4 μm, and when the light emitting diode arrays 1 are arranged so that the center lines 7A to 7C in the arrangement direction passing through the center of the light emitting section 3 are aligned, it is shown in FIG. As described above, the light emitting portion interval D2 is equal to the light emitting diode array 1
It becomes wider than the upper light emitting portion interval D1 (= 50 μm).

Here, the limit of dot misalignment in the direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions 3 is 1 / the size of the light emitting portion (20 μm).
The allowable range is up to about 2. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2B, both end faces 4, 4 are provided for each light emitting diode array 1.
Move in the direction of and arrange them side by side. As a result, as shown in the figure, the center lines 7A to 7C of the light emitting diode arrays 1A to 1C deviate for each light emitting diode array 1, but the light emitting diode array 1A and the light emitting diode array 1C at both ends of the array are arranged. There is no problem because the dot deviation of the light emitting portion 3 between the above and the above is within the allowable range (1/2 of the light emitting portion size). Here, the angle θ formed between the directions of the two end portions 4 and 4 of the light emitting diode array 1 and the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions 3 is the light emitting portion interval D1, the amount of burrs 6, and the allowable range of dot deviation of the light emitting portions 3. , And the number of light emitting diode arrays 1 to be arranged, and the like. That is, although the angle θ is set to 45 ° in the above-described embodiment, depending on the above conditions (the light emitting portion interval D1, the amount of burr 6, the allowable range of dot deviation of the light emitting portion 3, and the number of light emitting diode arrays 1 to be arranged). Other values such as 60 ° may be used. Both of these end faces 4,
The angle θ formed by 4 and the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions 3 can be arbitrarily set by the method of masking on the wafer 11.

By the way, the above light emitting diode array 1
Is not a parallelogram when viewed in a plane,
It may be configured to have a trapezoidal shape as shown in FIG. When a plurality of trapezoidal light emitting diode arrays 31 are arranged in this way, as shown in the figure, every other one is shifted in the direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the light emitting units 3. By arranging the light emitting diode arrays 31 in such a manner that they are staggered, the light emitting portion spacing D2 can be made equal to the light emitting portion spacing D1 on the light emitting diode array 31 even in the trapezoidal light emitting diode array 31. When the light emitting diode array 31 is produced, a wafer having two cleavage directions may be used. When using, for example, a GaAs wafer in which the cleavage directions of two directions intersect perpendicularly, a light emitting diode array 31 is formed on the wafer as shown in FIG. 5, for example (the light emitting section 3 is omitted in the figure). Then, after separating the separation lines 16 to be the both side surfaces 5 and 5 by a dicing method, the separation lines 17 to be both the end surfaces 4 and 4 are cut by cleavage to divide the light emitting diode array 31.

As described above, the light emitting diode array 1,
By arranging the end surfaces 4 and 4 of the light emitting diode 31 not at right angles to the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions 3 but at a predetermined angle θ, and arranging the light emitting diode arrays 1 and 31 at different positions.
The spread of the light emitting portion distance D2 due to the burr 6 can be ignored.

[0014]

As described above, according to the semiconductor light emitting device of the present invention, in a semiconductor light emitting device having a plurality of light emitting portions arranged at regular intervals on a semiconductor substrate, the semiconductor light emitting device is viewed in a plane. In this case, the direction of both end surfaces in the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions of the semiconductor substrate coincides with the cleavage direction of the semiconductor substrate, and is in a direction with a predetermined angle with respect to the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions. Therefore, even if burrs are generated on both of the end faces, it is possible to arrange the light emitting portions between the semiconductor light emitting elements so as to be equal in distance to the light emitting portions on the semiconductor light emitting element. Further, the semiconductor substrate has a plurality of light emitting portions arranged at regular intervals, and both end surfaces of the semiconductor substrate in the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions have a predetermined angle with respect to the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions. A light emitting device having a plurality of shaped semiconductor light emitting elements arranged in the arrangement direction of the light emitting portion, wherein the semiconductor light emitting elements are arranged by being shifted toward the terminal surface of the semiconductor substrate for each semiconductor light emitting element. Further, there is an effect that a light emitting device having a uniform light emitting portion interval can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a structure of a light emitting diode array according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a method of manufacturing the light emitting diode array shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of a light emitting device configured using the light emitting diode array shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main part of another embodiment of the light emitting device of the present invention.

5 is an enlarged view of a wafer before the light emitting diode array in FIG. 4 is divided.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a main part of a conventional light emitting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 31 Light-Emitting Diode Array (Semiconductor Light-Emitting Element) 2 Substrate (Semiconductor Substrate) 3 Light-Emitting Section 4 End Surface 5 Side Surface 6 Burr 7A, 7B, 7C Centerline 11 Wafer 21 Light-Emitting Device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A semiconductor light emitting device having a plurality of light emitting units arranged at regular intervals on a semiconductor substrate, wherein when the semiconductor light emitting device is viewed in a plan view, both of the light emitting units of the semiconductor substrate in the arrangement direction are arranged. 2. A semiconductor light emitting device, characterized in that the direction of the terminating surface coincides with the cleavage direction of the semiconductor substrate and has a predetermined angle with respect to the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions. 2. A semiconductor substrate having a plurality of light emitting portions arranged at regular intervals, and both end surfaces of the semiconductor substrate in the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions form a predetermined angle with respect to the arrangement direction of the light emitting portions. A semiconductor light emitting device having a configuration in which a plurality of semiconductor light emitting elements having a given shape are arranged in the arrangement direction of the light emitting portion, wherein each semiconductor light emitting element is shifted toward the end face of the semiconductor substrate to form a semiconductor light emitting element. A light emitting device characterized by being arranged.