Integration of transistors with vertical cavity surface emitting lasers

摘要

Optoelectronic integrated circuits are disclosed comprising a vertical-cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) and a transistor. The VCSEL comprises a laser cavity sandwiched between two distributed Bragg reflectors. The laser cavity comprises a pair of spacer layers surrounding one or more active, optically emitting quantum-well layers having a bandgap in the visible range which serve as the active optically emitting material of the device. The thickness of the laser cavity is m (lambda)/2neff where m is an integer, (lambda) is the free-space wavelength of the laser radiation and neff is the effective index of refraction of the cavity. Electrical pumping of the laser is achieved by heavily doping the bottom mirror and substrate to one conductivity-type and heavily doping the regions of the upper mirror with the opposite conductivity type to form a diode structure and applying a suitable voltage to the diode structure. Embodiments are disclosed which integrate the VCSEL with bipolar and FET transistors as well as phototransistors.