Small Electrically Pumped Index-Guided Vertical-Cavity Lasers

High-yield, reliable electrically pumped index-guided vertical cavity lasers with diameters less than 4 microns have been fabricated using low resistance, alloyed, ring contact metallization. Existing metallization schemes used for bottom emitting vertical cavity lasers (VCLs) tend to be highly resistive, since the top metallization layer Serves the dual purpose of mirror and electrical contact This results in acceptable performance for large diameter devices, but poor performance for smaller devices that operate at higher current densities. Low resistance alloyed ring contacts have been developed for small bottom emitting VCLs that maintain the required optical properties while dramatically improving the electrical properties.