CN113589322A - VCSEL linear array for multi-line laser radar - Google Patents

VCSEL linear array for multi-line laser radar Download PDF

Info

Publication number
CN113589322A
CN113589322A CN202110763456.3A CN202110763456A CN113589322A CN 113589322 A CN113589322 A CN 113589322A CN 202110763456 A CN202110763456 A CN 202110763456A CN 113589322 A CN113589322 A CN 113589322A
Authority
CN
China
Prior art keywords
vcsel
laser
semiconductor substrate
linear array
vcsels
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Pending
Application number
CN202110763456.3A
Other languages
Chinese (zh)
Inventor
贾志伟
李丽
王安帮
赵彤
李璞
王龙生
郭园园
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Taiyuan University of Technology
Original Assignee
Taiyuan University of Technology
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Taiyuan University of Technology filed Critical Taiyuan University of Technology
Priority to CN202110763456.3A priority Critical patent/CN113589322A/en
Publication of CN113589322A publication Critical patent/CN113589322A/en
Pending legal-status Critical Current

Links

Images

Classifications

    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01SRADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S17/00Systems using the reflection or reradiation of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. lidar systems
    • G01S17/88Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications
    • G01S17/93Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications for anti-collision purposes
    • G01S17/931Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications for anti-collision purposes of land vehicles
    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01SRADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/481Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of laser detection and semiconductor optoelectronic devices, in particular to a VCSEL linear array facing a multi-line laser radar; the device specifically comprises a semiconductor substrate, a vertical cavity surface emitting laser VCSEL with m-element linear array, and an m-element optical microlens; the VCSEL with m-element linear arrays is prepared on the front side of the semiconductor substrate, and the m-element optical micro lenses are arranged on the back side of the semiconductor substrate in an array manner; the m-element VCSELs are independent from each other and output m paths of mutually incoherent laser signals; the VCSELs correspond to the optical micro lenses one by one, and the optical micro lenses are used for collimating the laser emitted by the corresponding VCSELs and regulating and controlling the light emitting direction to form a multi-line laser beam; the invention realizes the collimation and the beam direction regulation of the VCSEL output laser beam; the optical scanning structure of the laser radar can be simplified, and the cost of the laser radar can be reduced.

Description

VCSEL linear array for multi-line laser radar
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of laser detection and semiconductor optoelectronic devices, in particular to a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) linear array facing a multi-line laser radar.
Background
The unmanned technology is the leading-edge technology about to change human life, and the laser radar plays an irreplaceable role in the process of developing the unmanned technology. In recent years, a great deal of work is carried out on the aspects of multi-line work, beam scanning and weight reduction of the laser radar in various enterprises and scientific research institutes, and various requirements of unmanned driving on the laser radar are continuously met. Especially in the aspect of multiline work, commercial lidar with 64 lines or even more is available, and the line number of the unmanned lidar becomes an important index for measuring the performance of the unmanned lidar.
At present, the widely adopted method for realizing the multi-line work of the laser radar is as follows: a plurality of lasers are adopted to work simultaneously, laser signals are emitted at different vertical angles respectively, and horizontal rotation is combined, so that multi-line work is achieved. The method of multi-laser operation will greatly increase the size and weight of the lidar and increase the cost of the components, which is very disadvantageous for the practical application of the lidar. By adopting the integrated laser linear array chip, the volume increase and the cost increase caused by the laser can be reduced. However, the beam regulation of the linear array of the common edge-emitting semiconductor laser is a difficult problem, which not only has great regulation difficulty and high cost, but also is not stable enough, so the application of the laser array in the aspect of laser radar is still in the research stage.
The vertical cavity surface emitting laser VCSEL has the advantage of high-power light beam quality, not only can be used for manufacturing a linear array, but also can be used for manufacturing a two-dimensional area array, so that the vertical cavity surface emitting laser has great application potential in the aspect of laser radars, but the VCSEL array also has the problem of light beam regulation and control. Different from an edge emitting laser, the light emitting direction of the VCSEL is perpendicular to the epitaxial plane, so that an optical element is convenient to integrate, and the regulation and control of output laser beams are further realized. The most common optical element is a lens, and the VCSEL is collimated and focused by integrating a microlens (patent publication No. CN 107453201 a), and the microlens processing technology is well developed. For the application of the multi-line laser radar, however, the array beam of the VCSEL still needs to be regulated by an external beam, thereby increasing the volume, weight and cost of the multi-line laser radar.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention overcomes the defects of the prior art, provides the VCSEL linear array facing the multi-line laser radar aiming at the problem of regulating and controlling the VCSEL array beam, and realizes the collimation and the beam direction regulation and control of the VCSEL output laser beam. And the method is further applied to the multi-line laser radar, and the VCSEL linear array without external beam regulation is realized.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is achieved by the following technical solutions.
A VCSEL linear array facing a multi-line laser radar comprises a semiconductor substrate, a vertical cavity surface emitting laser VCSEL with m-element linear arrays and an m-element optical microlens; the VCSEL with m-element linear arrays is prepared on the front side of the semiconductor substrate, and the m-element optical micro lenses are arranged on the back side of the semiconductor substrate in an array manner; the m-element VCSELs are independent from each other and output m paths of mutually incoherent laser signals; the VCSELs correspond to the optical micro lenses one by one, and the optical micro lenses are used for collimating laser emitted by the corresponding VCSELs and regulating and controlling light emitting directions to form multi-line laser beams.
Further, the optical microlens is directly prepared on the back surface of the semiconductor substrate.
Further, the optical micro lens is a refractive lens or a diffractive lens.
Furthermore, the material of the semiconductor substrate is one of GaAs, InP and GaSb.
Further, the vertical cavity surface emitting laser VCSEL includes a vertical cavity resonance structure composed of distributed bragg reflectors DBRs on both sides and a laser active region disposed between the DBRs on both sides, and a light reflectivity of the DBR prepared on the semiconductor substrate is smaller than a light reflectivity of the DBR on a side away from the semiconductor substrate.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects:
1. the VCSEL linear array can increase the number of output laser lines by integrating a larger number of VCSELs, and can regulate and control the angle coverage and distribution of output multi-line laser beams by the design adjustment of the substrate micro-lens, so that the line number increase, the vertical scanning range change and the vertical resolution control of the laser radar are realized; the regulation and control function on the beam direction is not only suitable for a linear array, but also suitable for a two-dimensional area array, and the integration level of the chip is further improved; the invention can output multi-path mutually independent and collimated multi-line laser beams with different emergent directions, and meets the application requirements of the multi-line laser radar.
2. The VCSEL linear array is applied to the laser radar, the line number of the laser radar can be adjusted only by replacing the VCSEL linear array chip, and redesign and adjustment of the whole laser radar are not needed.
3. The preparation processes required by the VCSEL linear array are all existing mature process technologies and do not involve complex process procedures, so that the cost of the multi-line laser radar device can be reduced by realizing the practical application of the invention.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a VCSEL linear array facing a multi-line laser radar according to the present invention;
in the figure: 1 is a semiconductor substrate, 2 is a VCSEL, 3 is an optical microlens, and 4 is a multi-line laser beam.
FIG. 2 is a specific embodiment of the present invention: a cross-sectional diagram of a specific device structure of a 16-line laser output VCSEL linear array;
in the figure: 101 is a GaAs semiconductor substrate, 102 is a Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) composed of variable-composition AlGaAs, reflectivity is 84%, 103 is a laser active region, 104 is a distributed Bragg reflector composed of variable-composition AlGaAs superlattice, reflectivity is more than 99.5%, 105 is a GaAs secondary epitaxial layer, 106 isSiO2Insulating layers, 107 and 108 are epitaxial-side and substrate-side electrode layers, respectively, and 109 is a microlens array.
FIG. 3 is a graph of the effect of 16-line laser output of a VCSEL linear array in an embodiment of the present invention;
in the figure: 201 is a linear array of VCSELs and 202 is an output 16-line laser beam.
Detailed Description
In order to make the technical problems, technical solutions and advantageous effects to be solved by the present invention more clearly apparent, the present invention is further described in detail with reference to the embodiments and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention. The technical solutions of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the embodiments and the drawings, but the scope of protection is not limited thereto.
The invention provides a VCSEL linear array for a multi-line laser radar, and aims to further improve the integration level of the laser radar and reduce the cost of the laser radar.
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a VCSEL linear array oriented to a multiline lidar. As shown in fig. 1, the linear array of VCSELs facing a multiline lidar comprises: a semiconductor substrate 1, m VCSELs 2 of a linear array of wires, m-element optical microlenses 3. The material of the semiconductor substrate 1 may be GaAs, InP, GaSb, which varies according to the material system of the VCSEL. m is the number of lines which can correspondingly realize the laser radar, each laser in the array is mutually independent, and no mode coupling, phase synchronization, power superposition and other interactions exist, so that the array can output m paths of completely mutually independent laser signals.
The semiconductor substrate 1 is a base for fabricating a VCSEL; each laser in the m-element VCSEL 2 is independent from each other, and mode coupling, phase synchronization, power superposition and other interactions do not exist, so that the array can output m paths of completely mutually independent laser signals; the optical micro-lenses 3 are directly prepared on the back surface of the semiconductor substrate 1, each independent VCSEL 2 is provided with one optical micro-lens 3 corresponding to the optical micro-lens, laser emitted by the VCSEL is dispersed in the substrate and is transmitted to the back micro-lens, and the lenses are used for collimating the dispersed laser and regulating the light emitting direction. After m paths of totally mutually incoherent lasers are collimated and regulated by the micro-lens array, each path of laser beam has different beam directions and is distributed in a certain angle range, so that a multi-line laser beam 4 meeting the application of a laser radar is formed.
The following description is made by using a specific embodiment, which is a 16-element VCSEL linear array facing to a 16-wire unmanned automotive laser radar, the VCSEL adopts a buried structure of a GaAs substrate base, the operating wavelength is 808 nm, the pulse output power of a single VCSEL is greater than 2W, and the specific device structure is shown in fig. 2. Only 3 VCSEL elements in a VCSEL linear array are shown in fig. 2, and 16 VCSEL elements are included in an actual linear array.
As shown in fig. 2, the 16-line VCSEL linear array in the embodiment specifically includes nine sections 101-109, and the descriptions of the sections are shown in the drawing. Wherein the GaAs semiconductor substrate 101 corresponds to 1 in fig. 1.
The two DBR portions 102 and 104 sandwich the laser active region 103 to form a vertical cavity resonance structure of the VCSEL, and the optical reflectivity of 102 is about 84%, and the optical reflectivity of 104 is greater than 99.5%, so that the VCSEL generates laser light to emit from the substrate direction. After etching the VCSEL circular mesa structure array, the second epitaxial semi-insulating GaAs material 105 is used for the optoelectronic isolation of each VCSEL unit, and the transverse optical confinement waveguide structures 102 and 105 of the VCSEL devices are formed together to form a VCSEL linear array, which corresponds to 2 in fig. 1. SiO 22The insulating layer 106 plays a role of consolidating electrical isolation and lateral waveguide, the material and planar structure of the two electrode layers 107 and 108 are different depending on the process platform and specific use, and will not be described in detail in this embodiment, and the material and planar structure 106 and 108 belong to further specific implementation details, which can be classified as a VCSEL array part.
The microlens array 109 corresponds to 3 in fig. 1, in this embodiment, relief-type microlenses are used for laser direct-writing processing, the microlens array is directly prepared on the back surface of the substrate 101, each VCSEL element has a corresponding microlens, 16 VCSELs emit 16 mutually independent laser beams, and each microlens collimates and adjusts the direction of one laser beam.
In this embodiment, an effect diagram of the output 16-line laser beams is shown in fig. 3, where the laser beams output by the VCSEL units at two ends form an angle of 12.4 ° with the normal of the array surface, and the included angles of the laser beams output to the VCSEL unit in the middle are sequentially reduced, so as to form a scanning beam of the 16-line laser radar in a vertical scanning range of 24.8 °. In consideration of the principle that the size of the laser radar is as small as possible, in order to reduce the size of the light outlet, in the implementation, the 16-line laser beams are converged towards the middle and then are diffused along respective directions, and the position where the light beams are converged is the position of the light outlet of the laser radar.
While the invention has been described in further detail with reference to specific preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims (5)

1. A VCSEL linear array facing a multiline lidar, comprising a semiconductor substrate (1), m-ary vertical cavity surface emitting lasers VCSELs (2) in a linear array, and m-ary optical microlenses (3); the VCSEL (2) with m-element linear arrays is prepared on the front surface of the semiconductor substrate (1), and the m-element optical micro lenses (3) are arranged on the back surface of the semiconductor substrate (1) in an array; the m-element VCSELs (2) are independent from each other and output m paths of mutually incoherent laser signals; the VCSELs (2) correspond to the optical micro lenses (3) one by one, and the optical micro lenses (3) are used for collimating laser emitted by the corresponding VCSELs (2) and regulating and controlling light emitting directions to form multi-line laser beams (4).
2. A VCSEL linear array facing a multiline lidar according to claim 1, wherein the optical microlens (3) is fabricated directly on the back side of the semiconductor substrate (1).
3. A VCSEL linear array facing a multiline lidar according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the optical microlens (3) is a refractive lens or a diffractive lens.
4. A VCSEL linear array facing a multiline lidar according to claim 1, wherein the material of the semiconductor substrate (1) is one of GaAs, InP, GaSb.
5. A VCSEL linear array facing a multiline lidar according to claim 1, wherein the vertical cavity surface emitting laser VCSEL (2) comprises a vertical cavity resonant structure consisting of two sides of a distributed bragg reflector DBR and a laser active region disposed between the two sides of the DBR, the DBR fabricated on the semiconductor substrate (1) having a light reflectivity smaller than the DBR at a side remote from the semiconductor substrate (1).
CN202110763456.3A 2021-07-06 2021-07-06 VCSEL linear array for multi-line laser radar Pending CN113589322A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CN202110763456.3A CN113589322A (en) 2021-07-06 2021-07-06 VCSEL linear array for multi-line laser radar

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CN202110763456.3A CN113589322A (en) 2021-07-06 2021-07-06 VCSEL linear array for multi-line laser radar

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CN113589322A true CN113589322A (en) 2021-11-02

Family

ID=78246142

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CN202110763456.3A Pending CN113589322A (en) 2021-07-06 2021-07-06 VCSEL linear array for multi-line laser radar

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CN (1) CN113589322A (en)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2024041298A1 (en) * 2022-08-26 2024-02-29 北京石头世纪科技股份有限公司 Multi-line laser and cleaning device

Citations (15)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN1166067A (en) * 1996-03-15 1997-11-26 摩托罗拉公司 Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers with distributed bragg reflectors for visible light
JP2004333834A (en) * 2003-05-07 2004-11-25 Tokai Univ Manufacturing method of microlens array
CN1635397A (en) * 2004-12-14 2005-07-06 南开大学 Laser scanning refraction/diffraction mixed f-theta mirror system
CN101180778A (en) * 2005-03-30 2008-05-14 诺瓦光电技术公司 Frequency stabilized vertical extended cavity surface emitting lasers
CN101213465A (en) * 2005-05-05 2008-07-02 Nxp股份有限公司 Method for analyzing an integrated circuit, apparatus and integrated circuit
US20100303113A1 (en) * 2009-02-17 2010-12-02 John Joseph Multibeam Arrays of Optoelectronic Devices for High Frequency Operation
CN102709808A (en) * 2012-05-29 2012-10-03 中国科学院长春光学精密机械与物理研究所 Coherent control array structure of micro lens integrated VCSELs (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers)
CN102742100A (en) * 2009-08-20 2012-10-17 皇家飞利浦电子股份有限公司 Laser device with configurable intensity distribution
CN103412406A (en) * 2013-07-30 2013-11-27 中国科学院半导体研究所 Red light semiconductor area array light source device for laser display
CN104220922A (en) * 2012-03-27 2014-12-17 菲力尔系统公司 Scalable laser with selectable divergence
CN107123928A (en) * 2017-05-10 2017-09-01 厦门大学 A kind of dual wavelength based on gallium nitride material is while emitting laser
CN208224485U (en) * 2018-06-14 2018-12-11 武汉煜炜光学科技有限公司 A kind of multi-line laser radar
US20190386464A1 (en) * 2018-06-19 2019-12-19 Oepic Semiconductors, Inc. Opto-electronic device having a backside illuminating vcsel array with integrated diffractive optical elements (doe), diffuser and/or lens
CN110928120A (en) * 2018-09-19 2020-03-27 青岛海信激光显示股份有限公司 Laser array, laser light source and laser projection equipment
CN212646993U (en) * 2020-05-29 2021-03-02 深圳市欢创科技有限公司 Laser radar and mobile robot

Patent Citations (15)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN1166067A (en) * 1996-03-15 1997-11-26 摩托罗拉公司 Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers with distributed bragg reflectors for visible light
JP2004333834A (en) * 2003-05-07 2004-11-25 Tokai Univ Manufacturing method of microlens array
CN1635397A (en) * 2004-12-14 2005-07-06 南开大学 Laser scanning refraction/diffraction mixed f-theta mirror system
CN101180778A (en) * 2005-03-30 2008-05-14 诺瓦光电技术公司 Frequency stabilized vertical extended cavity surface emitting lasers
CN101213465A (en) * 2005-05-05 2008-07-02 Nxp股份有限公司 Method for analyzing an integrated circuit, apparatus and integrated circuit
US20100303113A1 (en) * 2009-02-17 2010-12-02 John Joseph Multibeam Arrays of Optoelectronic Devices for High Frequency Operation
CN102742100A (en) * 2009-08-20 2012-10-17 皇家飞利浦电子股份有限公司 Laser device with configurable intensity distribution
CN104220922A (en) * 2012-03-27 2014-12-17 菲力尔系统公司 Scalable laser with selectable divergence
CN102709808A (en) * 2012-05-29 2012-10-03 中国科学院长春光学精密机械与物理研究所 Coherent control array structure of micro lens integrated VCSELs (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers)
CN103412406A (en) * 2013-07-30 2013-11-27 中国科学院半导体研究所 Red light semiconductor area array light source device for laser display
CN107123928A (en) * 2017-05-10 2017-09-01 厦门大学 A kind of dual wavelength based on gallium nitride material is while emitting laser
CN208224485U (en) * 2018-06-14 2018-12-11 武汉煜炜光学科技有限公司 A kind of multi-line laser radar
US20190386464A1 (en) * 2018-06-19 2019-12-19 Oepic Semiconductors, Inc. Opto-electronic device having a backside illuminating vcsel array with integrated diffractive optical elements (doe), diffuser and/or lens
CN110928120A (en) * 2018-09-19 2020-03-27 青岛海信激光显示股份有限公司 Laser array, laser light source and laser projection equipment
CN212646993U (en) * 2020-05-29 2021-03-02 深圳市欢创科技有限公司 Laser radar and mobile robot

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2024041298A1 (en) * 2022-08-26 2024-02-29 北京石头世纪科技股份有限公司 Multi-line laser and cleaning device

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
JP6759274B2 (en) Microlens for multi-beam array of optoelectronic devices for high frequency operation
US10038304B2 (en) Laser arrays for variable optical properties
US8995493B2 (en) Microlenses for multibeam arrays of optoelectronic devices for high frequency operation
AU2006285426B2 (en) Optical phase conjugation laser diode
KR0131920B1 (en) Circle grating surface emitting laser diode array
KR101834015B1 (en) Hybrid vertical-cavity laser
EP1562271B1 (en) Micro-lens built-in vertical cavity surface emitting laser
US20040165637A1 (en) Laser-to-fiber coupling
JP2006060204A (en) Self-monitoring light emitting device
US6687282B2 (en) Micro-lens built-in vertical cavity surface emitting laser
WO2020247291A1 (en) Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser using dichroic reflectors
KR20180107945A (en) Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser including meta structure reflector and optical apparatus including the vertical cavity surface emitting laser
CN112670829A (en) Wafer-level VCSEL laser array structure and preparation method thereof
JP2022500880A (en) Phase-coupled laser devices and methods for manufacturing phase-coupled laser devices.
KR100860696B1 (en) Vertical cavity surface emitting laser
CN113589322A (en) VCSEL linear array for multi-line laser radar
CN111799654B (en) Laser device and manufacturing method and application thereof
US20210336424A1 (en) Bottom-emitting vertical cavity surface emitting laser array with integrated directed beam diffuser
JP2023552011A (en) Vertical cavity surface emitting laser and manufacturing method
AU2021104550A4 (en) VCSEL Linear Array for Multi-line Lidar
JP4203752B2 (en) Surface emitting semiconductor laser and method for manufacturing the same, optical switch, and optical branching ratio variable element
CA3210713A1 (en) Surface-emitting laser array, light source module, and distance-measuring apparatus
GB2396054A (en) Semiconductor optical device with beam focusing
CN116073231A (en) Multi-wavelength topological cavity surface emitting laser array
CN219917900U (en) Vertical optical cavity surface emitting laser with wafer-level integrated optical micro lens

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
PB01 Publication
PB01 Publication
SE01 Entry into force of request for substantive examination
SE01 Entry into force of request for substantive examination