Surface-emitting laser apparatus and manufacturing method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9966730-B2
Application number	US-201514809745-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 27, 2015
Priority date	Aug 11, 2014
Publication date	May 8, 2018
Grant date	May 8, 2018

Abstract

A surface-emitting laser apparatus includes a surface-emitting laser substrate; a microlens substrate; and an adhesion agent. The surface-emitting laser substrate includes a semiconductor substrate; and a surface-emitting laser and plural first adhesion fixing regions formed on a first face of the semiconductor substrate. The microlens substrate includes a microlens configured to receive light emitted by the surface-emitting laser; plural pier portions protruding toward a side of the first face of the semiconductor substrate; and plural second adhesion fixing regions, formed at positions corresponding to the first adhesion fixing regions on surfaces of the pier portions. The adhesive agent causes the first adhesion fixing regions and the second adhesion fixing regions to adhere to each other. A restoring force acts on the adhesive agent in a case where the adhesive agent is melted. The surface-emitting laser substrate and the microlens substrate are self-aligned with each other according to the restoring force.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A surface-emitting laser apparatus comprising:
a surface-emitting laser substrate including:
a semiconductor substrate;
a surface-emitting laser array including plural surface-emitting laser unit elements that each emit light,
the surface-emitting laser array having been formed on a first face of the semiconductor substrate; and
a plurality of first adhesion fixing regions on said first face of the semiconductor substrate;

a microlens substrate including:
a microlens array including plural microlens elements disposed at respective positions corresponding to the respective surface-emitting laser unit elements of the surface-emitting laser array to receive light emitted by the respective surface-emitting laser unit elements of the surface-emitting laser array, each microlens element of the microlens array having a convex surface facing towards the respective surface-emitting laser unit element;
a plurality of pier portions protruding toward the first face of the semiconductor substrate; and
a plurality of second adhesion fixing regions, facing the first face of the semiconductor substrate and being disposed on surfaces of the pier portions, at respective positions corresponding to the plurality of first adhesion fixing regions; and

an adhesive agent that causes the first adhesion fixing regions and the second adhesion fixing regions to adhere to each other, and
the surface-emitting laser substrate and the microlens substrate being directly bonded to each other via (i) the first adhesion fixing regions of the surface-emitting laser substrate, (ii) the adhesive agent and (iii) the second adhesion fixing regions of the microlens substrate.

2. The surface-emitting laser apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first adhesion fixing regions are formed of a material having a property of being wetted with the adhesive agent more easily than a material for forming the semiconductor substrate, and the second adhesion fixing regions are formed of a material having a property of being wetted with the adhesive agent more easily than a material for forming the pier portions.

3. The surface-emitting laser apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first adhesion fixing regions are formed in connection with the surface-emitting laser array, and the pier portions and the second adhesion fixing regions are formed in connection with the microlens array.

4. The surface-emitting laser apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , wherein positional accuracy between an emitting point of the surface-emitting laser and the first adhesion fixing regions is determined by accuracy in alignment between a mask used in connection with the surface-emitting laser array and a mask used in connection with the first adhesion fixing regions.

5. The surface-emitting laser apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , wherein positional accuracy between the microlens array and the second adhesion fixing regions is determined by accuracy in alignment between a mask used in connection with the microlens array and a mask used in connection with the second adhesion fixing regions.

6. The surface-emitting laser apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a planar shape of the semiconductor substrate is a quadrangle, the first adhesion fixing regions are arranged in corners of the semiconductor substrate, a planar shape of each of the first adhesion fixing regions is a rectangle, the first adhesion fixing regions are arranged so that long sides of the rectangles of the adjacent first adhesion fixing regions are orthogonal to each other, and a planar shape of each of the second adhesion fixing regions is formed so as to correspond to the planar shape of each of the respective first adhesion fixing regions, and the second adhesion fixing regions are arranged at positions corresponding to the first adhesion fixing regions.

7. The surface-emitting laser apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a planar shape of the semiconductor substrate is a quadrangle, the first adhesion fixing regions are arranged in corners of the semiconductor substrate, a planar shape of each of the first adhesion fixing regions is an L-shape, the first adhesion fixing regions are arranged so that an inner side of the L shape of each of the first adhesion fixing regions faces to a center of the semiconductor substrate, and a planar shape of each of the second adhesion fixing regions is formed so as to correspond to the planar shape of each of the respective first adhesion fixing regions, and the second adhesion fixing regions are arranged at positions corresponding to the first adhesion fixing regions.

8. The surface-emitting laser apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a height from the first face of the semiconductor substrate to top faces of the first adhesion fixing regions is the same as a height from the first face of the semiconductor substrate to an emitting point of the surface-emitting laser unit elements.

9. The surface-emitting laser apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein an opening section is provided in each of the second adhesion fixing regions.

10. A surface-emitting laser apparatus comprising:
a surface-emitting laser substrate including
a semiconductor substrate; and
a surface-emitting laser configured to emit light and
a plurality of first adhesion fixing regions,
the surface-emitting laser and the plurality of first adhesion fixing regions being formed on a first face of the semiconductor substrate;

a microlens substrate including
a microlens configured to receive light emitted by the surface-emitting laser;
a plurality of pier portions protruding toward a side of the first face of the semiconductor substrate; and
a plurality of second adhesion fixing regions, formed at positions corresponding to the plurality of first adhesion fixing regions on surfaces of the pier portions on the side of the first face of the semiconductor substrate; and

an adhesive agent that causes the first adhesion fixing regions and the second adhesion fixing regions to adhere to each other,
wherein the microlens substrate further includes a plurality of hinges which extend in a direction parallel to the first face of the semiconductor substrate from a part where the microlens is formed, and the pier portion which protrudes toward a side of the first face of the semiconductor substrate is formed at an end of each of the hinges.

11. A manufacturing method of a surface-emitting laser apparatus comprising:
forming a surface-emitting laser array including plural surface-emitting laser unit elements that each emit light on a first face of a semiconductor substrate;
forming a plurality of first adhesion fixing regions on the first face of the semiconductor substrate,
a surface-emitting laser substrate including the semiconductor substrate and the surface-emitting laser array and the plurality of first adhesion fixing regions formed thereon;
forming, on a transparent substrate, a microlens array including plural microlens elements disposed at positions corresponding to the respective surface-emitting laser unit elements to receive light emitted by the respective surface-emitting laser unit elements of the surface-emitting laser array, each microlens element of the microlens array having a convex surface facing towards the respective surface-emitting laser unit element;
forming a plurality of pier portions on the transparent substrate;
forming a plurality of second adhesion fixing regions at positions corresponding to the first adhesion fixing regions on surfaces of the pier portions,
a microlens substrate including the transparent substrate, the microlens array and the pier portions formed on the transparent substrate, and the plurality of secon

Assignees

• Adachi Kazuhiko
• Jikutani Naoto
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Adachi Kazuhiko
• Jikutani Naoto

Classifications

• H01S5/02272

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01S5/02276

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G02B3/0056

  arranged along two different directions in a plane, e.g. honeycomb arrangement of lenses (G02B3/0043 takes precedence; miniaturised objectives for electronic devices employing wafer level optics G02B13/0085) · CPC title

• H01S5/423

  having a vertical cavity · CPC title

• G02B3/0075

  characterized by non-optical structures, e.g. having integrated holding or alignment means · CPC title