This application is based on and claims priority under 35 USC 119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-290234 filed on Dec. 22, 2009.
(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vertical cavity surface emitting laser, a vertical cavity surface emitting laser device, an optical transmission device, and an information processing apparatus.
(ii) Related Art
A vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) is used as a light source in a communication device and an image forming apparatus. Single lateral mode, high power and long service life are required for such vertical cavity surface emitting laser used as a light source. A vertical cavity surface emitting laser is generally designed to oscillate in a single lateral mode by making a current narrowing region small, but an optical output becomes small when the current narrowing region is made small.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vertical cavity surface emitting laser device including: a substrate; a first semiconductor multilayer reflector of a first conductive type formed on the substrate; an active region formed on the first semiconductor multilayer reflector; a second semiconductor multilayer reflector of a second conductive type formed on the active region; a columnar structure that is formed from the second semiconductor multilayer reflector to the first semiconductor multilayer reflector on the substrate; a current narrowing layer that is formed inside of the columnar structure, and has a conductive region surrounded by an oxidization region selectively oxidized; a first electrode that is annular, is formed at a top of the columnar structure, is electrically connected to the second semiconductor multilayer reflector, and defines a beam window; a first insulating film that is comprised of a material of which a first refractive index is able to transmit an oscillation wavelength, and covers the second semiconductor multilayer reflector exposed by the beam window of the first electrode; and a second insulating film that is comprised of a material of which a second refractive index is able to transmit an oscillation wavelength and larger than the first refractive index, and is formed on the first insulating film so that the first insulating film at a center portion inside of the beam window is exposed. A reflection ratio of the second semiconductor multilayer reflector in a second region where the second insulating film is formed is lower than a reflection ratio in a first region where only the first insulating film is formed, and a radius of an opening of the second insulating film which exposes the fist insulating film is smaller than a radius of the conductive region.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the following figures, wherein:
A description will now be given, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of exemplary embodiments of the present invention. In the following description, a selective oxidation type vertical cavity surface emitting laser will be exemplified, and a vertical cavity surface emitting laser is abbreviated as a VCSEL. The scale in drawings is exaggerated to understand the feature of the present invention, and is not same as the scale of actual devices.
The n-type lower DBR 102 is a multi-layer stack formed by a pair of an Al0.9Ga0.1As layer and an Al0.3Ga0.7As layer for example. The thickness of each layer is λ/4nr (λ is an oscillation wavelength, and nr is a refractive index of the medium), and the Al0.9Ga0.1As layer and the Al0.3Ga0.7As layer are stacked alternately 40 periods. A carrier concentration after doping an n-type impurity (silicon) is 3×1018 cm−3 for example.
The lower spacer layer of the active region 104 is an undoped Al0.6Ga0.4As layer, quantum well active layers are an undoped Al0.11Ga0.89As quantum well layer and an undoped Al0.3Ga0.7As barrier layer, and the upper spacer layer is an undoped Al0.6Ga0.4As layer.
The p-type upper DBR 106 is a multi-layer stack formed by a pair of an Al0.9Ga0.1As layer and an Al0.3Ga0.7As layer for example. The thickness of each layer is λ/4nr, and the Al0.9Ga0.1As layer and the Al0.3Ga0.7As layer are stacked alternately 24 periods. A carrier concentration after doping a p-type impurity (carbon) is 3×1018 cm−3 for example. A contact layer 106A comprised of p-type GaAs is formed at a top layer of the upper DBR 106, and a current narrowing layer 108 comprised of p-type AlAs is formed inside of the upper DBR 106. It is preferable that the current narrowing layer 108 is close to the active region 104. The current narrowing layer 108 may be formed at the bottom layer of the upper DBR 106.
A cylindrical mesa (a columnar structure) M is formed on the substrate 100 by etching a semiconductor layer from the upper DBR 106 to a part of the lower DBR 102. The current narrowing layer 108 is exposed on the side surface of the mesa M, and has an oxidization region 108A which is selectively oxidized from the side surface, and a conductive region (oxidized aperture) 108B surrounded by the oxidization region 108A. In the oxidization process of the current narrowing layer 108, the oxidation rate of an AlAs layer is faster than that of an AlGaAs layer, and the oxidization proceeds from the side surface of the mesa M to the inside at an almost constant rate. Therefore, the planar shape of the surface, which is parallel to the principal surface of the substrate 100, of the conductive region 108B, becomes a round shape which reflects the outer shape of the mesa M, and the center of the conductive region 108B corresponds to the axial center of the mesa M which means an optical axis. The radius of the conductive region 108B may have the size at which the high-order lateral mode oscillation occurs. For example, the radius of the conductive region 108B may be equal to or larger than 5 μm in a wavelength range of 780 nm.
An annular metallic p-side electrode 110 is formed at the top of the mesa M. The p-side electrode 110 is comprised of a metal formed by stacking Au or Ti/Au for example, and is ohmic connected to the contact layer 106A of the upper DBR 106. A circular opening is formed at the center of the p-side electrode 110, and this opening defines a beam window 110A. The radius of the beam window 110A is slightly larger than the radius of the conductive region 108B, and the center of the beam window 110A substantially corresponds to the optical axis of the mesa M.
A region exposed by the beam window 110A of the p-side electrode 110 is covered by a circular first insulating film 112. The first insulating film 112 is comprised of a material that is able to transmit light with a wavelength of the oscillation wavelength. The refractive index of the first insulating film 112 is smaller than the refractive index of the semiconductor layer of the upper DBR 106. The film thickness of the first insulating film 112 is odd multiples of half of the oscillation wavelength, which means (2a−1) λ/2n1 (a is integer, λ is an oscillation wavelength, and n1 is a refractive index). The first insulating film 112 is comprised of a material such as SiON, SiO2, SiN, and TiO2. In the illustrated exemplary embodiment, the outside diameter of the first insulating film is same as that of the beam window 110A. However, the outside diameter of the first insulating film 112 may be larger than that of the beam window 110A so that the end portion of the first insulating film 112 extends on the p-side electrode.
An annular second insulating film 114 with a width of W is formed on the first insulating film 112. The second insulating film 114 is comprised of a material that is able to transmit light with a wavelength of the oscillation wavelength. The refractive index of the second insulating film 114 is larger than that of the first insulating film 112. The film thickness of the second insulating film 114 is odd multiples of a quarter of the oscillation wavelength, which means (2b−1) λ/4n2 (b is integer, n2 is a refractive index, and n2>n1). The second insulating film 114 is comprised of a material such as SiON, SiO2, SiN, and TiO2. The center of the second insulating film 114 substantially corresponds to the center of the conductive region 108B, and the radius of the opening of the second insulating film 114 (the radius exposing the first insulating film) is smaller than the radius of the conductive region 108B. Preferably, the width W of the second insulating film 114 corresponds to that of the region where the high-order lateral mode is generated. In the illustrated exemplary embodiment, the outside diameter of the second insulating film 114 corresponds to that of the first insulating film 112, but is not limited to the exemplary embodiment. The end portion of the second insulating film 114 may extend on the p-side electrode 110.
At the top of the mesa M, a part outside from the p-side electrode 110 is covered by the interlayer insulating film 116. The interlayer insulating film 116 extends to cover the side surface and bottom surface of the mesa M. As described later, preferably, the interlayer insulating film 116 is comprised of a same material as that of the second insulating film 114, and the second insulating film 114 and the interlayer insulating film 116 can be pattern-formed simultaneously. An n-side electrode 118 that is electrically connected to the lower DBR 102 is formed on the back side of the substrate 100.
The region 2 makes the reflection ratio of the upper DBR 106 in the region 2 lower than the reflection ratio of the upper DBR 106 in the region 1 by including the second insulating film 114 of which the refractive index is higher than the refractive index of the first insulating film 112 and making the film thickness of the first insulating film 112 λ/2 and the film thickness of the second insulating film 114 λ/4. This accelerates a fundamental lateral mode oscillation generated near the optical axis in the region 1, and suppresses a high-order lateral mode oscillation generated away from the optical axis in the region 2. As a result, even though the radius of the conductive region 108 is made large, it is possible to obtain the high-power fundamental lateral mode oscillation because the high-order lateral mode oscillation is suppressed.
In a comparison structure 1, the first insulating film 112 is comprised of SiON with a film thickness of λ/2, and the second insulating film 114 is comprised of SiN with a film thickness of λ/2. In this case, the reflection ratio of the upper DBR in the region 2 is 99.677%, and the reflection ratio difference is 0%.
In a comparison structure 2, the first insulating film 112 is comprised of SiON with a film thickness of λ/2, and the second insulating film 114 is comprised of SiON with a film thickness of λ/4. In this case, the reflection ratio of the upper DBR in the region 2 is 99.206%, and the reflection ratio difference is 0.471%. A profile of the reflection ratio of the region 2 is illustrated as
In a comparison structure 3, the first insulating film 112 is composed by stacking SiON with a film thickness of λ/4 and SiN with a film thickness of λ/4, and the second insulating film 114 is comprised of SiON with a film thickness of λ/4. In this case, the reflection ratio of the region 1 is 99.783%, the reflection ratio of the region 2 is 99.206%, and the reflection ratio difference is 0.577%.
As described above, it is possible to reduce the reflection ratio of the region 2 compared to the reflection ratio of the region 1 by forming the second insulating film 114 of which the film thickness is odd multiples of λ/4, and the refractive index is larger than that of the first insulating film 112, on the first insulating film 112 with a film thickness of odd multiples of λ/2. It is known that the laser oscillation becomes difficult when the reflection ratio of the upper DBR 106 becomes less than about 99%.
It is preferable to select the combination where the difference between refractive indexes of the first insulating film 112 and the second insulating film 114 becomes large. This makes the reflection ratio difference between regions 1 and 2 large. That is to say that this makes the reflection ratio of the region 2 smaller than that of the region 1 effectively.
A description will now be given of the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The second exemplary embodiment relates to a preferable fabrication method of the VCSEL. A fabrication method is described with reference to
A resist pattern is formed on the contact layer 106A by the photolithography process conventionally known, and the annular p-side electrode 110 comprised of Au/Ti is formed on the contact layer 106A by the liftoff process. Then, SiON is deposited on whole surface of the substrate 100 by CVD, and the circular first insulating film 112 covering the beam window 110A which is the opening of the p-side electrode 110 is formed by patterning SiON. The first insulating film 112 protects the beam window 110A from an exposure and particles generated in subsequent processes by covering the beam window 110A.
As illustrated
Then, the mask is removed, and the interlayer insulating film 116 comprised of SiN is formed on whole surface of the substrate as illustrated in
According to the fabrication method of the present exemplary embodiment, it is possible to form the second insulating film 114 with an easy process only changing a mask pattern by forming the second insulating film 114 and the interlayer insulating film 116 simultaneously, and mass production at low cost becomes possible. In addition, as the process is processed under the condition that the beam window 110A is protected by the first insulating film 112, this makes it work for the reliability of the VCSEL. When an insulating layer is formed inside of a contact layer by etching the contact layer, it is difficult to stop the etching with high accuracy. If the film thickness of the etched layer is not uniform, there is a possibility that a reflection ratio changes, and this makes it difficult to obtain a reproducible composition. However, the above problem does not occur in the present exemplary embodiment.
In above exemplary embodiments, a description was given of a current narrowing layer comprised of AlAs, but a current narrowing layer may be an AlGaAs layer of which the Al composition is higher than the Al composition of other DBRs. In addition, the radius of the conductive region (the oxidized aperture) of the current narrowing layer can be changed appropriately according to required optical output. Furthermore, in above exemplary embodiments, the description was given of a GaAs-based VCSEL, but the present invention can be applied to other VCSELs using other III-V group compound semiconductors. In above exemplary embodiments, the description was given of a single spot VCSEL, but the VCSEL can be a multi-spot VCSEL where multiple mesas (emission portion) are formed on the substrate, or a VCSEL array.
A description will be given of a vertical cavity surface emitting laser device, an optical information processing apparatus, and an optical transmission device using the VCSEL of exemplary embodiments with reference to drawings.
A rectangular hollow cap 350 is fixed on the stem 330 including the chip 310, and a ball lens 360 is fixed in an opening 352 located in the center of the cap 350. The ball lens 360 is laid out so that the optical axis of the ball lens 360 corresponds to the substantial center of the chip 310. When a forward current is applied between leads 340 and 342, a laser beam is emitted from the chip 310 to the vertical direction. The distance between the chip 310 and the ball lens 360 is adjusted so that the ball lens 360 is included within the spread angle θ of the laser beam from the chip 310. A light receiving element and a temperature sensor to monitor the emitting condition of the VCSEL can be included in the cap.
The laser beam emitted from the surface of the chip 310 is focused by the ball lens 360. The focused beam enters to the core of the optical fiber 440, and is transmitted. In above exemplary embodiments, the ball lens 360 is used, but other lenses such as a biconvex lens and a plane-convex lens can be used besides a ball lens. Furthermore, the optical transmission device 400 can include a drive circuit to apply an electrical signal to leads 340 and 342. The optical transmission device 400 can also include a receiving function to receive an optical signal through the optical fiber 440.
The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understand the invention for various exemplary embodiments and with the various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2009-290234 | Dec 2009 | JP | national |