Corning Incorporated

Martin (Hai) Hu

Chung-En Zah

Mike Xu Ouyang

Lyle David Kinney

Emmannuel C Onyiriuka

A method of passivating an edge-emitting semiconductor diode laser and the resultant product. Laser bars are cleaved in air from a wafer containing multiple laser bars. The bars are placed into a vacuum processing chamber in which two steps are performed without breaking vacuum. The first step includes cleaning the facets including removing the native oxide by, for example, a low-energy ion beam or by an electron cyclotron resonance (EAR) plasma containing hydrogen and possibly argon or xenon with the bars being negatively biased. The second step includes coating the cleaned facets with a thin passivation layer of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), whereby the facets are coating by the passivation layer without an intervening oxide. A low oxygen partial pressure of no more than 10 Torr is maintained between the cleaning and deposition, both of which preferably are done in the same chamber. Also preferably, anti-reflective or highly reflective coatings are deposited on the facets without returning the laser bars to air.

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Corning, NY, United States of America

Martin (Hai) Hu