Surface emission type semiconductor laser

Details

Inventors: Mori, Katsumi; Asaka, Tatsuya; Iwano, Hideaki;
Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Tokyo, JP)
Primary Examiner: Davie; James W.
Assistant Examiner:
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Oliff & Berridge

A surface emission type semiconductor laser includes a plurality of semiconductor layers defining at least one resonator in a direction perpendicular to the semiconductor substrate of the laser, the layers including at least a cladding layer in the semiconductor layers being formed into at least one column-like light emitting portion extending in a direction perpendicular to the semiconductor substrate, and a II-VI group compound semiconductor epitaxial layer buried around the column-like portion. An active layer of multi-quantum well structure is further formed on the layer section of the cladding layer having the column-like portion. If a plurality of column-like portions are formed, these column-like portions are separated from one another by a separation groove terminating short of the active layer, the II-VI group compound semiconductor epitaxial layer being buried in the separation groove. Particularly, when it is desired to produce a phase synchronization type semiconductor laser, a waveguide layer is formed below the active layer, and the waveguide layer is adapted to propagate light rays in a direction parallel to the active layer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a high-efficiency surface emission type semiconductor laser which is of a complete current restrictable structure provided by appropriately selecting the material of the buried layer and by improving the structure of the active layer and also which can be produced in a very simple manner.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a surface emission type semiconductor laser which includes a plurality of light emitting portions close to one another and which can synchronize laser beams from the light emitting portions in phase and which can be continuously driven in room temperature.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a surface emission type semiconductor laser which can emit a single laser beam formed by the in-phase laser beams from the light emitting portions, said single laser beam having a relatively large light spot and a reduced angle of radiation.
To this end, a surface emission type semiconductor laser for emitting a beam in a direction perpendicular to the semiconductor substrate, comprises an optical resonator including a pair of reflecting mirrors having different reflectivities and a plurality of semiconductor layers located between the reflecting mirrors, the layers including at least a cladding layer in said semiconductor layers being formed into one or more column-like semiconductor layers (portions); a II-VI group compound semiconductor epitaxial layer buried around (surrounding) said column-like semiconductor layers; and an active layer of multi-quantum well structure formed at a lower layer section of said cladding layer having the one or more column-like portions, said active layer including a plurality of well layers each of which is sandwiched between barrier layers.
The II-VI group compound semiconductor epitaxial layer may be formed of a combination of two, three or four elements which include II-group elements such as Zn, Cd and Hg and VI-group elements such as O, S, Se and Te

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