Multi-Hole-Aperture (MUHA) VCSELs to Remove the Saturation Current Barrier: The Concept and First Realizations

Novel designs of Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) are presented leading to a strong reduction of thermally induced band gap shift as a function of current and of the series resistance. In our most simple approach blind holes are dry etched into standard devices and then filled with gold resulting in an effective heat drain technology [1]. A different more sophisticated approach (called MUHA) uses the dry etched holes to oxidize the apertures [2]. The shape and size of the aperture now depends on the arrangement of holes. First results to validate larger output power, rollover current, single mode emission, and reduced series resistance are presented for both cases. In addition, pseudo single-mode multi-aperture VCSELs (called MAVs) are enabled [3].