Vertical cavity surface emitting laser and method of manufacturing thereof

Abstract

A vertical cavity surface emitting laser capable of reducing parasitic capacitance while suppressing power consumption, and a method of manufacturing thereof are provided. The vertical cavity surface emitting laser includes a columnar mesa including, on a substrate, a first multilayer reflector, an active layer, and a second multilayer reflector in order from the substrate side, and also including a current narrowing layer. The columnar portion of the mesa including the active layer and the current narrowing layer is formed within a region opposed to the first multilayer reflector and a region opposed to the second multilayer reflector, and a cross section area of the columnar portion is smaller than a cross section area of the second multilayer reflector.

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         7 . A method of manufacturing a vertical cavity surface emitting laser, comprising:
 a first step of forming a plurality of grooves each reaching at least a second multilayer reflector and a layer to be oxidized at a predetermined interval in a direction rotative about a specific region, the specific region being a columnar portion within a substrate to be processed, which is constituted from a semiconductor layer including, on a first substrate, a first multilayer reflector, an active layer and the second multilayer reflector in order from a side opposite to the first substrate, and the layer to be oxidized;   a second step of forming a first metal layer on a top surface of the semiconductor layer where the grooves are not formed, and thereafter, bonding the first metal layer to a second metal layer of a supporting substrate constituted from a second substrate and the second metal layer provided on the second substrate; and   a third step of removing entirely or partially a portion other than a region including the specific region from the first substrate side to allow the grooves to communicate with outside, and thereafter, oxidizing the layer to be oxidized from side-faces of the grooves to form an oxidized region in the layer to be oxidized corresponding to an outer edge portion of the specific region, and to form an unoxidized region in the layer to be oxidized corresponding to a center portion of the specific region.   
     
     
         8 . The method of manufacturing the vertical cavity surface emitting laser according to  claim 7 , wherein
 the plurality of grooves are formed to satisfy an expression of D 2 <D 1 *2, where D 1  is a radial dimension of the oxidized region as measured from an side face of the groove, and D 2  is a distance between each two of adjacent grooves of the plurality of grooves, which are arranged in a direction rotative about the specific region.   
     
     
         9 . The method of manufacturing the vertical cavity surface emitting laser according to  claim 7 , wherein
 in the third step, an annular electrode having a light emitting aperture in a region opposed to the unoxidized region and also having its outer edge partially extended outside of the specific region is formed on the surface opposite to the second substrate.   
     
     
         10 . The method of manufacturing the vertical cavity surface emitting laser according to  claim 7 , wherein
 in the first step, the plurality of grooves are formed symmetrically with respect to an axis extending in a stack direction.