Narrow sized laser diode

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9640949-B1
Application number	US-201514742297-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 17, 2015
Priority date	Jun 29, 2012
Publication date	May 2, 2017
Grant date	May 2, 2017

Abstract

Gallium and nitrogen containing optical devices operable as laser diodes are disclosed. The devices include a gallium and nitrogen containing substrate member, which may be semipolar or non-polar. The devices include a chip formed from the gallium and nitrogen substrate member. The chip has a width and a length. The devices have a cavity oriented substantially parallel to the length of the chip, a dimension of less than 120 microns characterizing the width of the chip, and a pair of etched facets configured on the cavity of the chip. The pair of etched facets includes a first facet configured at a first end of the cavity and a second facet configured at a second end of the cavity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for assembling a gallium and nitrogen containing optical device operable as a laser diode, the method comprising:
providing a gallium and nitrogen containing material having a width and a length, the width of the material being a distance between sides of the material and the length of the material being a distance between ends of the material, the material also having a p-type region and an n-side contact opposite the p-type region; a ridge waveguide configured to emit laser light, the ridge waveguide oriented substantially parallel to the length of the material, the ridge waveguide having a width that is less than the width of the material, where the width of the material is 70 microns or less; a pair of facets configured on the ends of the material, the pair of facets including a first facet configured at a first end of the material and a second facet configured at a second end of the material; and one or more wirebonding pads coupled to the n-side contact; and
assembling a submount coupled to the material such that the p-type region of the material is facing the submount.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the width of the material is less than 70 microns and greater than 20 microns.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising testing the laser diode at a wafer level to characterized properties selected from threshold current density, a voltage versus current relationship, a light out versus current relationship, and a combination of any of the foregoing.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the laser diode is operable at a wavelength selected from 430 nm to 480 nm or from 480 nm to 535 nm or from 390 nm to 430 nm.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pair of facets are formed by a dry etching method selected from reactive ion etching (RIE), inductively plasma coupled etching (ICP), and chemical assisted ion beam etching (CAIBE).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the material has a semipolar surface orientation selected from the (20-21), (20-2-1), (30-31), (30-3-1), and (11-22) plane orientations, or an offcut of any of the foregoing orientations.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the material has a nonpolar surface orientation or an offcut thereof.

8. A method of assembling a gallium and nitrogen containing optical device operable as a laser diode, the method comprising:
providing a gallium and nitrogen containing material having a width and a length, the width of the material being a distance between sides of the material and the length of the material being a distance between ends of the material, the material also having a p-type region and an n-side contact opposite the p-type region; a ridge waveguide configured to emit laser light, the ridge waveguide oriented substantially parallel to the length of the material, the ridge waveguide having a width that is less than the width of the material, where the width of the material is less than 120 microns; and one or more wirebonding pads disposed on the n-side contact of the material for coupling wires to the material; and
assembling a submount coupled to the material such that the p-type region of the material is facing the submount.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a pair of etched facets are configured on the ends of the material.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the pair of etched facets are formed by a dry etching method selected from reactive ion etching (RIE), inductively plasma coupled etching (ICP), and chemical assisted ion beam etching (CAIBE).

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the width of the material is less than 110 microns.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the width of the material is less than 70 microns.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the laser diode is configured for testing at a wafer level to characterize properties selected from threshold current density, a voltage versus current relationship, a light out versus current relationship, and a combination of any of the foregoing.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the laser diode is operable at a wavelength from 430 nm to 480 nm.

15. The method of claim 8 , wherein the laser diode is operable at a wavelength from 480 nm to 535 nm.

16. The method of claim 8 , wherein the laser diode is operable at a wavelength from 390 nm to 430 nm.

17. The method of claim 8 , wherein the material has a semipolar surface orientation selected from the (20-21), (20-2-1), (30-31), (30-3-1), and (11-22) plane orientations, or an offcut of any of the foregoing orientations.

18. The method of claim 8 , wherein the material has a nonpolar surface orientation, or an offcut thereof.

19. A method for assembling a gallium and nitrogen containing optical device operable as a laser diode, the method comprising:
providing a gallium and nitrogen containing material having a width and a length, the width of the material being a distance between sides of the material and the length of the material being a distance between ends of the material, the material also having a p-type region and an n-side contact opposite the p-type region; a ridge waveguide configured to emit laser light, the ridge waveguide oriented substantially parallel to the length of the material, the ridge waveguide having a width that is less than the width of the material, where the width of the material is less than 120 microns; one or more wirebonding pads disposed on the n-side contact of the material for coupling wires to the material; and a pair of etched facets configured on the ends of the material, the pair of etched facets including a first facet configured at a first end of the material and a second facet configured at a second end of the material; and
assembling a submount coupled to the material such that the p-type region of the material is facing the submount.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the pair of etched facets are formed by a dry etching method selected from reactive ion etching (RIE), inductively plasma coupled etching (ICP), and chemical assisted ion beam etching (CAIBE).

Assignees

• Soraa Laser Diode Inc

Inventors

• Raring James W
• Huang Hua

Classifications

• H01S5/32025

  non-polar orientation · CPC title

• H01S5/320275

  semi-polar orientation · CPC title

• H01S5/0042

  On wafer testing, e.g. lasers are tested before separating wafer into chips · CPC title

• H01S5/32341

  blue laser based on GaN or GaP · CPC title

• H10W72/5363

  the connected ends being wedge-shaped · CPC title