Method of cleaving semiconductor diode laser wafers
US4237601A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 13, 1978 |
| Grant date | Dec 9, 1980 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 13, 1998 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01S5/0202
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Thick double heterostructure (Al,Ga)As wafers comprising layers of gallium arsenide and gallium aluminum arsenide on a metallized n-GaAs substrate are separated into individual devices for use as diode lasers. In contrast to prior art techniques employed with thinner wafers of mechanically cleaving the wafer in mutually orthogonal directions, the wafer is first separated into bars of diodes by a process which comprises (a) forming channels of substantially parallel sidewalls about 1 to 4 mils deep into the surface of the n-GaAs substrate (b) etching into the n-GaAs substrate with an anisotropic etchant to a depth sufficient to form V-grooves in the bottom of the channels and (c) mechanically cleaving into bars of diodes. The cleaving may be done by prior art techniques using a knife, razor blade or tweezer edge or by attaching the side of the wafer opposite to the V-grooves to a flexible adhesive tape and rolling the assembly in a manner such as over a tool of small radius. The diode bars may then, following passivation, be further cleaved into individual diodes by the prior art technique of mechanically scribing and cleaving. Processing in accordance with the invention results in …
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.