VERFAHREN ZUR HERSTELLUNG EINER LASERDIODE MIT VERGRABENER AKTIVER SCHICHT UND MIT SEITLICHER STROMBEGRENZUNG DURCH SELBSTJUSTIERTEN PN-UEBERGANG.

摘要

A laser diode has a laser-active stripe in a buried layer of a hetero-layer structure of III-V semiconductor material, the layer of the strips being flanked by a blocking pn-junction so that current is limited to the laser-active stripe. The novel features are: (a) the pn-junction (10) is formed by the interface between at least one doped zone (71) of a first layer (7) and an adjacent layer (6) of conductivity type opposite to that of the doped zone; (b) the doped zone (71) is the result of diffusion of a dopant having a high diffusion coefficient in the semiconductor material; (c) the dopant is diffused from another layer (3) and through layer (b) into the zone (71); (d) the doping level in layer (b) is sufficiently higher than that in the first layer (7) that doping of layer (6) with the diffused dopant is avoided; and (e) the basic dopant of the first layer (7) is of conductivity type opposite to that in the doped zone (71) and together with the higher doping in layer (b), is provided by a dopant which has a smaller diffusion coefficient than that of the dopant of the doped zone (71). A process for prodn. of the laser diode is also claimed.