Thermal Design Considerations for III-N Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers Using Electro-Opto-Thermal Numerical Simulations

III-N VCSELs undergo severe self-heating which limits the output optical power. This makes thermal management a critical design consideration. The three most common VCSEL structures (hybrid VCSELs, flip-chip VCSELs and ELOG VCSELs) have been studied using advanced self-consistent electro-opto-thermal numerical simulations. The key geometric and material parameters affecting the thermal resistance of these devices have been identified. Our simulations suggest that some of the proposed solutions and design modifications can increase the maximum optical output power by as much 100%. This manuscript also describes the correct method of using numerical simulation in device design-to predict trends and isolate the key factors affecting device performance.