Self-alignment method of making

Abstract

This specification discloses a structure of a ridge waveguide semiconductor laser and a self-alignment method of making the same. The structure comprises a ridge whose top surface is exposed to have direct contact with a metal electrode layer so as to lower the ohmic contact resistance. Two side walls of the ridge and two channels are covered by a dielectric layer with high thermal conductivity, and the peripheral platform surfaces are covered by another dielectric layer with low capacitance. Therefore, the obtained laser diode has features such as high heat dissipation and low capacity. In the manufacturing process, the ridge can have good ohmic contact with metal electrodes without the need of aligned contact holes. The end-point detector is used in the key step to perform precision control. A reactive ion etching (RIE) machine can be employed in the processes to perform large area homogeneous etching so that the laser devices require a lower manufacturing cost but obtain a higher yield. Also, the manufacturing process becomes more efficient.