Edge-emitting laser having small vertical emitting angle

Abstract

An edge-emitting laser having a small vertical emitting angle includes an upper cladding layer, a lower cladding layer and an active region layer sandwiched between the upper and lower cladding layers. By embedding a passive waveguide layer within the lower cladding layer, an extended lower cladding layer is formed between the passive waveguide layer and the active region layer. In addition, the refractive index (referred as n-value) of the passive waveguide layer is larger than the n-value of the extended lower cladding layer. The passive waveguide layer with a larger n-value would guide the light field to extend downward. The extended lower cladding layer can separate the passive waveguide layer and the active region layer and thus expand the near-field distribution of laser light field in the resonant cavity, so as to obtain a smaller vertical emitting angle in the far-field laser light field.

Claims

1. An edge-emitting laser having a small vertical emitting angle, comprising: an InP substrate; a bottom cladding layer, located on the substrate; an active region layer, located on the bottom cladding layer; a top cladding layer, located on the active region layer; and a contact layer, located on the top cladding layer; wherein the bottom cladding layer further includes a passive waveguide layer sandwiched there inside, an extended bottom cladding layer is formed between the passive waveguide layer and the active region layer, the extended bottom cladding layer is a part of the bottom cladding layer, and a light refraction index of the passive waveguide layer is larger than that of the bottom cladding layer.

2. The edge-emitting laser having a small vertical emitting angle of claim 1, further including: a lower SCH layer, located between the bottom cladding layer and the active region layer; and an upper SCH layer, located between the active region layer and the top cladding layer.

3. The edge-emitting laser having a small vertical emitting angle of claim 2, wherein: the InP substrate, the bottom cladding layer, the passive waveguide layer and the lower SCH layer are all n-type doped (i.e. n-typed doping); the top cladding layer and the contact layer are both p-type doped (i.e. p-typed doping); the bottom cladding layer and the top cladding layer are made of InP; the active region layer is made of In.sub.1-x-yAl.sub.xGa.sub.yAs, wherein each of the x and the y is a real number between 0 and 1; the contact layer is made of InGaAs; and, the lower SCH layer and the upper SCH layer are made of In.sub.0.52Al.sub.0.48As.

4. The edge-emitting laser having a small vertical emitting angle of claim 1, wherein: the passive waveguide layer is a single-layer structure made of In.sub.0.52Al.sub.0.48As and having a thickness within 0.2 m0.6 m; and, the extended bottom cladding layer located between the passive waveguide layer and the active region layer has a thickness within 0.8 m1.6 m.

5. The edge-emitting laser having a small vertical emitting angle of claim 4, wherein the passive waveguide layer has a thickness within 0.4 m0.6 m, and the extended bottom cladding layer has a thickness within 1.2 m1.4 m.

6. The edge-emitting laser having a small vertical emitting angle of claim 1, wherein the passive waveguide layer is a multi-layer structure including: a lower waveguide layer, located on the bottom cladding layer, made of InGaAsP, having a thickness of 40 nm; a spacer layer, located on the lower waveguide layer, made of InP, having a thickness of 50 nm; and an upper waveguide layer, located on the spacer layer, made of InGaAsP, having a thickness of 40 nm; wherein the extended bottom cladding layer located between the passive waveguide layer and the active region layer has a thickness of 1.4 m.

7. An edge-emitting laser having a small vertical emitting angle, epitaxially formed on a substrate mainly made of InP, comprising orderly: a passive waveguide layer, located on the substrate, made of In.sub.0.52Al.sub.0.48As; an extended bottom cladding layer, located on the passive waveguide layer, made of InP; an active region layer, located on the extended bottom cladding layer, made of In.sub.1-x-yAl.sub.xGa.sub.yAs, wherein each of the x and the y is a real number between 0 and 1; a top cladding layer, located on the active region layer, made of InP; and a contact layer, located on the top cladding layer, made of InGaAs.

8. The edge-emitting laser of claim 7, further including: a lower SCH layer, located between the bottom cladding layer and the active region layer; and an upper SCH layer, located between the active region layer and the top cladding layer.

9. The edge-emitting laser of claim 8, wherein: the InP substrate, the bottom cladding layer, the passive waveguide layer and the lower SCH layer are all n-type doped (i.e. n-typed doping); and, the top cladding layer and the contact layer are both p-type doped (i.e. p-typed doping).

10. The edge-emitting laser of claim 7, wherein: the passive waveguide layer is a single-layer structure having a thickness within 0.4 m0.6 m; and, the extended bottom cladding layer located between the passive waveguide layer and the active region layer has a thickness within 1.2 m1.4 m.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The present invention will now be specified with reference to its preferred embodiment illustrated in the drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematically perspective view of a typical edge-emitting laser diode component in the art;

(3) FIG. 2 is a lateral side view of FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3 is an up-side-down schematic view of a computer model for the typical edge-emitting laser diode component of FIG. 1;

(5) FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B and FIG. 4C illustrate schematically respective simulation results of light fields upon the near-field and far-field laser light fields based on the computer model of FIG. 3;

(6) FIG. 5 is a schematically structural view of a first embodiment of the edge-emitting laser in accordance with the present invention;

(7) FIG. 6 is a schematically structural view of a second embodiment of the edge-emitting laser in accordance with the present invention;

(8) FIG. 7A, FIG. 7B and FIG. 7C illustrate schematically respective simulation results of light fields upon the near-field and far-field laser light fields based on the edge-emitting laser diode component of FIG. 6; and

(9) FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are curves plotted based on corresponding data in Tables 4 and 5, respectively.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

(10) The invention disclosed herein is directed to an edge-emitting laser having a small vertical emitting angle. In the following description, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that variations of these specific details are possible while still achieving the results of the present invention. In other instance, well-known components are not described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention.

(11) In the present invention, a bottom cladding layer of the edge-emitting laser further includes a passive waveguide layer and an extended bottom cladding layer located between the passive waveguide layer and the active region layer. The extended bottom cladding layer can be seen as a part of the bottom cladding layer. Also, a light refraction index (referred as an n-value) of the passive waveguide layer is greater than that of the bottom cladding layer, such that a passive light-guide structure without an active region layer can be formed by this passive waveguide layer with a higher light refraction index. Thereupon, the light field can extend toward the substrate, the extended bottom cladding layer is introduced to separate the passive waveguide layer from the active region layer by a predetermined space, and the near-field distribution of the laser light field inside the resonant cavity can be extended. Thus, the far-field laser light field with a smaller vertical emitting angle (i.e. a round light pattern) can be obtained.

(12) Referring now to FIG. 5, a first embodiment of the edge-emitting laser invention accordance with the present invention is schematically shown. In this embodiment, the edge-emitting laser includes, in an upward order, at least an InP substrate 301, a bottom cladding layer 302, a passive waveguide layer 39 sandwiched in the bottom cladding layer 302, a lower SCH layer 3031, an active region layer 303, an upper SCH layer 3032, a top cladding layer 304 and a contact layer 305. Since the passive waveguide layer 39 is sandwiched within the bottom cladding layer 302, so the bottom cladding layer 302 is divided into a lower layer 3021 and an upper layer 3022, in which a portion of the upper layer 3022 located between the passive waveguide layer 39 and the active region layer 303 can be called as an extended bottom cladding layer 3022. Though the extended bottom cladding layer 3022 is a part of the bottom cladding layer 302, yet a light refraction index of the passive waveguide layer 39 is larger than that of the bottom cladding layer 302.

(13) In the first embodiment of the edge-emitting laser as shown in FIG. 5, the passive waveguide layer 39 is a multi-layer structure including, in an upward order, a lower waveguide layer 391, a spacer layer 392 and an upper waveguide layer 393. Refer now to Table 2, layers, materials, thicknesses and doping parameters for manufacturing a first example of the edge-emitting laser of FIG. 5 in the 2.5G FP epitaxial structure are listed.

(14) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 First example of the edge-emitting laser diode component in accordance with the present invention Thick- Number ness Doping Concen- of layer Material (nm) type tration Dopant Contact layer 305 13 In.sub.0.53Ga.sub.0.47As 200 p >1E19 Zn 12 InGaAsP (1.5 um) 25 p >3E18 Zn 11 InGaAsP (1.3 um) 25 p >3E18 Zn Top cladding layer 10 InP 1500 p 0.5~1E18 Zn 304 9 InGaAsP (1.1 um) 25 p 1.00E+18 Zn 8 InP 100 P 0.5~1E18 Zn Upper SCH layer 7 In.sub.0.52Al.sub.0.48As 50 U/D 3032 Active region layer 6 U-GRIN 60 U/D 303 (X4) 5 InAlGaAs(well, 4.5 U/D 1.15% strain) (X5) 4 InAlGaAs(barrier, 8.5 U/D 0.63% strain) 3 U-GRIN 60 Lower SCH layer 2 In.sub.0.52Al.sub.0.48As 100 n 800E+17 Si 3031 Extended bottom 1 InP Buffer 1400 n 1.00E+18 Si cladding layer 3022 Passive a:393 InGaAsP 40 n 1.00E+18 Si waveguide (1.165 um) layer39 b:392 InP 50 n 1.00E+18 Si a:391 InGaAsP 40 n 1.00E+18 Si (1.165 um) Bottom cladding Lower InP 50 n 1.00E+18 Si layer 301,3021 layer of the bottom cladding layer 3021 Sub- InP 350 um n 2-8e18 S trate 301

(15) From Table 2 and FIG. 5, it can be seen that, in this example, the lower waveguide layer 391 is located on the lower layer of the bottom cladding layer 3021, is made of InGaAsP, and has a thickness of 40 nm; the spacer layer 392 is located on the the lower waveguide layer 391, is made of InP, and has a thickness of 50 nm; the upper waveguide layer 393 is located on the spacer layer 392, is made of InGaAsP, and has a thickness of 40 nm; and, the extended bottom cladding layer 3022 is located between the passive waveguide layer 39 and the active region layer 303, and has a thickness of 1.4 m. Regarding other details or parameters for each aforesaid epitaxial layer of the edge-emitting laser diode component, such as the numbers of sub-layers, the ingredients, the thicknesses, the doping types, the doped concentrations and the types of dopants, please refer to Table 2 directly, and thus details thereabout would be omitted herein.

(16) By providing the first example of the edge-emitting laser diode component as shown in Table 2 and FIG. 5, though the vertical emitting angle of the laser light can be reduced to 28 degrees or less, yet such an improvement is mainly obtained by implanting two waveguide layers of the super lattice PQ (InGaAsP1.165 um for example) for providing higher n values into the bottom cladding layer 302 at the side close to the InP substrate 301; namely, to form the lower waveguide layer 391 and the upper waveguide layer 393 inside the bottom cladding layer 302. However, such a design would raise at least two shortcomings as follows.

(17) 1. The PQ involves two group-V elements, and thus the epitaxial processes would be somehow uncontrollable. Thereby, the refraction index would be easier to be varied and thus further to influence the change of beam-spread angle.

(18) 2. Since the PQ layer is a multi-layer design, and the thickness of each layer is within 10 nm-100 nm, thus the manufacturing process would be more notorious but less controllable.

(19) Accordingly, a second embodiment of the edge-emitting laser diode component in accordance with the present invention is provided to resolve the aforesaid disadvantages at the first embodiment.

(20) Referring now to FIG. 6, the second embodiment of the edge-emitting laser in accordance with the present invention is schematically shown. In this second embodiment, similar to the aforesaid first embodiment, the edge-emitting laser epitaxially produced on an InP substrate 401 includes, in an upward order, at least a bottom cladding layer 402, a passive waveguide layer 49 sandwiched within the bottom cladding layer 402, a lower SCH layer 4031, an active region layer 403, an upper SCH layer 4032, a top cladding layer 404 and a contact layer 405. In this second embodiment, the substrate 401 provides substantially part of function of the bottom cladding layer 402. Also, since the passive waveguide layer 49 is sandwiched within the bottom cladding layer 302 at a side close to the substrate 401, thus the portion of the passive waveguide layer 49 between the passive waveguide layer 49 and the active region layer 403 can be called as an extended bottom cladding layer 4022. Namely, the extended bottom cladding layer 4022 is part of the bottom cladding layer 402. In the present invention, a light refraction index of the passive waveguide layer 49 is larger than that of the bottom cladding layer 402.

(21) In the second embodiment of the edge-emitting laser as shown in FIG. 6, the passive waveguide layer 49, obviously a single-layer structure to replace the PQ multi-layer design of the aforesaid first embodiment, is formed by a high-n-value AlxGayIn1-x-yAs (AlInAs, AlGaInAs or InGaAs for example) bulk in a lattice match. The merits of this embodiment are following.

(22) 1. The passive waveguide layer 49 uses a single element of group V (As), and thus the epitaxial process is more controllable.

(23) 2. The passive waveguide layer 49 is a single layer formed by a bulk film having a thickness within 50 nm-1000 nm, such that the manufacturing process is simpler and more controllable.

(24) By applying the formulation of the aforesaid second embodiment, an edge-emitting laser diode component to provide a stable, even and small vertical angle can be thus organized to overcome the shortcomings of the aforesaid first embodiment in the PQ multi-layer design.

(25) Refer now to Table 3, layers, materials, thicknesses and doping parameters for manufacturing a second example of the edge-emitting laser of FIG. 6 in the 2.5G FP epitaxial structure are listed.

(26) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Second example of the edge-emitting laser diode component in accordance with the present invention Thick- Number ness Doping Concen- of layer Material (nm) type tration Dopant Contact layer 405 13 In.sub.0.53Ga.sub.0.47As 200 p >1E19 Zn 12 InGaAsP (1.5 um) 25 p >3E18 Zn 11 InGaAsP (1.3 um) 25 p >3E18 Zn Top cladding layer 10 InP 1500 p 0.5~1E18 Zn 404 9 InGaAsP (1.1 um) 25 p 1.00E+18 Zn 8 InP 100 P 0.5~1E18 Zn Upper SCH layer 7 In.sub.0.52Al.sub.0.48As 50 U/D 4032 Active region layer 6 U-GRIN 60 U/D 403 (X4) 5 InAlGaAs(well, 4.5 U/D 1.15% strain) (X5) 4 InAlGaAs(barrier, 8.5 U/D 0.63% strain) 3 U-GRIN 60 Lower SCH layer 2 In.sub.0.52Al.sub.0.48As 100 n 800E+17 Si 4031 Extended bottom 1 InP Buffer 1400 n 1.00E+18 Si cladding layer 4022 passive waveguide a In.sub.0.52Al.sub.0.48As 500 n 1.00E+18 Si layer 49 Bottom cladding Sub- InP 350 um n 2-8e18 S layer 402,401 trate 401

(27) From Table 3 and FIG. 6, in the second embodiment of the edge-emitting laser diode component in accordance with the present invention, the InP substrate 401, the bottom cladding layer 402 including the extended bottom cladding layer 4022, the passive waveguide layer 49 and the Lower SCH layer 4031 are all n-type doped. The top cladding layer 404 and the contact layer 405 are both p-type doped. The substrate 401, the bottom cladding layer 402 including the extended bottom cladding layer 4022, and the top cladding layer 404 are all made of the InP. The active region layer 403 is made of In.sub.1-x-yAl.sub.xGa.sub.yAs, in which the x and y are both real number within 01. The contact layer 405 is mainly made of InGaAs, but a bottom portion of the contact layer 405 close to the top cladding layer 404 is produced to include a thinner InGaAsP layer as a transient area from the InP to the InGaAs, such that the energy levels of materials can be continuous so as to reduce the resistance. In addition, the lower SCH layer 4031 and the upper SCH layer 4032 are both made of In.sub.0.52Al.sub.0.48As. Regarding other details or parameters for each aforesaid epitaxial layer of the edge-emitting laser diode component, such as the numbers of sub-layers, the ingredients, the thicknesses, the doping types, the doped concentrations and the types of dopants, please refer to Table 3 directly, and thus details thereabout would be omitted herein.

(28) By having the second embodiment of the edge-emitting laser diode component of FIG. 6 as an example, in the case that layers, materials, thicknesses and doping parameters of Table 3 are applied for manufacturing the the edge-emitting laser in the 2.5G FP epitaxial structure, the computer model of the edge-emitting laser diode component similar to that shown in FIG. 3, are applied to simulate the near-field and far-field laser light fields, and the width of the ridge mesa is set to be 1.7 m; then simulation results of the light field are shown in FIG. 7A, FIG. 7B and FIG. 7C. From these simulation results, the vertical beam-spread angle of the second embodiment of the edge-emitting laser diode component as configured by FIG. 6 and Table 3 can be reduced to 24.73 degrees, while the horizontal beam-spread angle thereof is 18.28 degrees. Thus, by comparing to the simulation results of the light field shown in FIG. 4A through FIG. 4C, it is certain that the second embodiment of the edge-emitting laser diode component can obtain a far-field laser light pattern further close to a round pattern. In addition, by testing a practical specimen resembled to the edge-emitting laser diode component as configured by FIG. 6 and Table 3, the measured vertical beam-spread angle thereof is 22.49 degrees, and the measured horizontal beam-spread angle thereof is 19.16 degrees. In comparison with the conventional edge-emitting laser diode component, the edge-emitting laser diode component of the present invention does have a laser light pattern close to a round pattern and largely fulfilling the simulation results of the light field shown in FIG. 7A through FIG. 7C.

(29) One major feature of the present invention is to use a single group-V element (As) and a layer of InAlGaAs bulk material to design the passive waveguide layer 49, such that a stable and simple-structured laser with a small vertical beam-spread angle can be obtained. It is also noted that the passive waveguide layer 49 of the present invention is located under the active region layer 403 and above the InP substrate 401. Further, two more structural features of the present invention shall be mentioned as follows.

(30) 1. The material of the extended bottom cladding layer 4022 is InP that can provide a small n value.

(31) 2. The material of the passive waveguide layer 49 is AlxGayIn1-x-yAs that can provide a larger n value.

(32) Hence, in the present invention, only the extended bottom cladding layer 4022 and the passive waveguide layer 49 are well arranged to have appropriate thicknesses, and then the laser with a small vertical beam-spread angle and good properties can be obtained. Generally speaking, the extended bottom cladding layer 4022 (made of InP) shall have a specific thickness so as able to extend the near-field distribution. On the other hand, if the thickness thereof is too over, then excessive epitaxial time would be needed. In the present invention, an appropriate thickness would be within 500 nm-2000 nm. The passive waveguide layer 49 (made of Al.sub.xGa.sub.yIn.sub.1-x-yAs) shall also have a certain thickness to induce effectively a light field, but the increase in thickness would sacrifice the modal gain. Namely, an optimal trade-off relation in between can be obtained through relevant calculations. Further, if the thickness of the passive waveguide layer 49 exceeds a certain value, then a multi-mode would appear to fail the device. In the present invention, the appropriate thickness would be within 100 nm-1000 nm. Through computer simulation to perform calculations upon various thicknesses for the extended bottom cladding layer 4022 and the passive waveguide layer 49, the results are listed in Tables 4 and 5 as follows, so that differences in the vertical far-field angle and the modal gain can be clearly observed among various thickness pairs of the extended bottom cladding layer 4022 and the passive waveguide layer 49.

(33) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Performance in vertical far-field angle of the edge-emitting laser of the present invention for various thickness pairs of the passive waveguide layer 49 (made of In.sub.0.52Al.sub.0.48As) and the extended bottom cladding layer 4022 (made of InP) Vertical far- Thickness of extended bottom cladding layer (m) field angle () 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 Thickness 0.1 30.53 30.29 30.22 30.31 30.45 30.64 30.83 30.98 of passive 0.2 29.37 28.82 28.7 28.78 29.09 29.44 29.89 30.24 waveguide 0.3 28.12 27.25 26.94 26.99 27.38 27.92 28.61 29.25 layer (m) 0.4 26.88 25.66 25.04 24.94 25.27 25.93 26.82 27.79 0.5 25.77 24.14 23.14 22.69 22.78 23.33 24.31 25.51 0.6 24.87 22.88 21.42 20.43 20.01 20.09 20.77 21.87 0.7 24.27 22.15 20.37 18.87 17.7 16.9 16.58 16.81 0.8 24.04 22.15 Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. 0.9 Multi. 20.28 Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. 1 Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi.

(34) TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Performance in modal gain of the edge-emitting laser of the present invention for various thickness pairs of the passive waveguide layer 49 and the extended bottom cladding layer 4022 Modal gain Thickness of extended bottom cladding layer (m) (cm.sup.1 ) 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 Thickness 0.1 75.85007 76.57527 77.09871 77.42134 77.61289 77.71973 77.78032 77.81161 of passive 0.2 73.41544 75.00169 76.15863 76.88414 77.31902 77.55928 77.69611 77.76659 waveguide 0.3 70.37972 72.93678 74.88504 76.14881 76.91267 77.34095 77.57997 77.70646 layer (m) 0.4 66.50494 70.064 73.00338 75.03352 76.285 77.00393 77.40155 77.61373 0.5 61.41886 65.7681 69.8989 73.0595 75.14443 76.37464 77.07298 77.4403 0.6 54.68789 58.96424 64.0608 68.78181 72.44596 74.80947 76.23728 77.00105 0.7 46.07284 48.23831 51.97099 56.94902 62.66072 67.99794 72.14713 74.78017 0.8 36.05811 33.72327 Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. 0.9 Multi. 33.48295 Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. 1 Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi. Multi.

(35) In these two tables, the notation Multi stands for multi-mode

(36) Also, referring to FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B, corresponding curves are plotted according to respective data listed in Table 4 and Table 5.

(37) From the aforesaid Table 4 and Table 5, if it is desired to have a vertical far field angle of the edge-emitting laser less than 30 degrees and a modal gain thereof higher than 60, then the thickness of the passive waveguide layer 49 (made of In.sub.0.52Al.sub.0.48As) is within 0.2 m0.6 m, and the thickness of the extended bottom cladding layer 4022 (made of InP) is preferably within 0.8 m1.6 m. If it is desired to have better performance in the laser light field and the modal gain, then, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the thickness of the passive waveguide layer is within 0.4 m0.6 m, and the thickness of the extended bottom cladding layer is 1.2 m1.4 m. At this time, the vertical far-field angle can be lowered to about 25 degrees, and the modal gain can reach a value close to 70. Thereupon, the shortcoming of the conventional edge-emitting laser having a vertical far-field angle larger than 30 degrees can be thus improved, without trading off good performance in the modal gain.

(38) While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.