Low threshold current laser
US5172384A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 3, 1991 |
| Grant date | Dec 15, 1992 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 3, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01S5/3403
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A thin layer, typically a monolayer, of a small band gap material (37) is inserted into the active layer (14) of a quantum well semiconductor device (36, 51). The band gap of the thin layer (37) is smaller than the band gap of the material in the active layer (14), thereby shifting carrier concentrations in the quantum well (26d, 26e, 26h, 26n) of the active layer (14) toward the thin layer (37). This shift increases alignment between the electron wave function (42, 54) and the hole wave function (44, 57) in the quantum well (26d, 26e, 26h, 26n) which increases the probability of stimulated photon emissions thereby reducing the threshold current and threshold voltage of the quantum well semiconductor device (36, 51).
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.