Patent · US Expired

Semiconductor laser device and method of fabricating semiconductor laser device

US5835516A · kind A · utility

15Cited by
11References
28Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 8, 1995
Grant dateNov 10, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 8, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01S5/32316
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A method of fabricating a semiconductor laser device includes successively forming an active layer and upper cladding layers on a lower cladding layer, etching and removing portions except regions of the upper cladding layers where a current is to flow to form a stripe-shaped ridge structure, and forming a buffer layer comprising Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As having an Al composition ratio x of 0 to 0.3 on a surface of the upper cladding layers exposed by the etching and forming a current blocking layer of first conductivity type Al.sub.y Ga.sub.1-y As having an Al composition ratio y of at least 0.5 on the buffer layer to bury portions of the upper cladding layers which are not removed by the etching process. Therefore, since the layer grown on the upper cladding layer exposed by etching of AlGaAs or GaAs having a low Al composition ratio (0-0.3), three-dimensional growth of and crystalline defects in the buffer layer are suppressed. Current leakage is suppressed, so that a semiconductor laser device having a low threshold current and a high efficiency is fabricated with a stable yield.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.