JP2007049188A - Semiconductor light-emitting device and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a semiconductor light-emitting device that can be manufactured by a simple method, and has stable laser characteristics and a ridge waveguide type stripe structure. <P>SOLUTION: In the semiconductor light-emitting device, there are a compound semiconductor layer having an active layer, a selective growth protective film 110 that is formed on the compound semiconductor layer, and has an opening 111 in a region corresponding to the stripe region into which current is injected, and a ridge type compound semiconductor layer that is formed so that the opening is covered on a substrate 101, where a surface has an off angle to a low-order orientation. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor light emitting device, and more particularly to a semiconductor light emitting device having a ridge waveguide stripe structure suitable as a semiconductor laser and a method for manufacturing the same.

  When a semiconductor light emitting device is easily manufactured, a structure called a ridge waveguide type is often used. FIG. 2 shows a method for manufacturing the structure. First, a first conductivity type cladding layer 202, an active layer 203, a second conductivity type cladding layer 204 and a second conductivity type contact layer 205 are first grown on a substrate 201. Next, a resist 211 having a stripe-shaped opening is formed on the wafer surface by patterning by photolithography, and wet etching is performed using the resist 211 as a mask so that the second conductivity type cladding layer 204 remains in a desired thickness. A striped ridge is formed. After that, an insulating protective film 206 such as SiNx is formed on the entire epitaxial side surface, and only the protective film on the top of the ridge is removed by etching using a resist provided with a stripe-shaped opening by patterning by photolithography. To do. This prevents current from flowing from other than the top of the ridge. At this time, in some cases, another protective film may be further formed on the side surface of the ridge. Thereafter, an epitaxial side electrode 207 and a substrate side electrode 208 are formed.

  By adopting such a structure, the current is injected through the ridge portion of the cladding layer and then injected into the active layer 203. Accordingly, current concentrates in the active layer region under the ridge portion, and light having a wavelength corresponding to the band gap of the active layer is generated. At this time, since the band gap of the active layer is usually smaller than that of the upper and lower cladding layers and the refractive index of the active layer is larger than that of the upper and lower cladding layers, carriers and light can be effectively confined in the active layer. Further, since the protective film 206 having a lower refractive index than the semiconductor portion is formed in the non-ridge portion 210, the effective refractive index of the active layer region under the non-ridge portion 210 is smaller than that of the ridge portion. . As a result, the generated light is confined in the active layer region under the ridge portion 210. For this reason, the transverse mode for laser oscillation can be stabilized and the threshold current can be reduced.

However, in such a conventional method for manufacturing a ridge waveguide semiconductor light emitting device, since the ridge portion is formed by etching, it is difficult to accurately control the thickness of the cladding layer in the non-ridge portion 210. As a result, due to a slight difference in the thickness of the cladding layer in the non-ridge portion, the effective refractive index of this portion largely fluctuates, and the laser characteristics of the semiconductor light emitting device fluctuate, making it difficult to improve the product yield. When a single transverse mode laser is manufactured, the width of the top of the ridge is about several microns at most, but it is difficult to use process simplification techniques such as self-alignment with the conventional manufacturing method. In addition, a highly accurate alignment technique was required. Such a complicated and fine photolithography technique complicates the device manufacturing process and lowers the device manufacturing yield. Furthermore, SiNx When the film is formed on the side surface of the ridge, a depletion layer of about 0.1 μm is formed on the surface side of the ridge side surface, so that there is a problem that the effective current channel width is reduced and the passage resistance is increased. .

On the other hand, in recent years, a visible (usually 630 to 690 nm) laser using an AlGaInP system has been put into practical use as an information processing light source in order to improve the recording density, instead of the conventional AlGaAs (wavelength near 780 nm). The following studies have been made toward wavelength reduction, low threshold and high temperature operation.
Formation of a natural superlattice (ordering) by using a substrate turned off in the [011] direction (or [0-1-1] direction) from the (100) plane in the production of a visible laser comprising an AlGaInP / GaInP system Suppresses the reduction of the band gap due to, makes it easy to shorten the wavelength, facilitates high-concentration doping of p-type dopants (for example, Zn, Be, Mg), increases the oscillation threshold current and temperature of the device by increasing the hetero barrier The characteristics can be improved. However, when the off-angle is small, step bunching appears prominently and large irregularities are formed at the heterointerface, so that when the quantum well structure (GaInP well layer of about 10 nm or less) is fabricated, the quantum effect on the bulk active layer As a result, the shift amount for shortening the PL wavelength (or oscillation wavelength) due to is smaller than the design value. By increasing the off angle, step bunching is suppressed, the heterointerface is flattened, and the wavelength can be shortened by the quantum effect as designed. In this way, the formation of natural superlattices and the occurrence of step bunching, which are factors that hinder the shortening of wavelengths, are suppressed, and the increase in oscillation threshold current and the temperature characteristics due to the shortening of wavelengths by p-type high-concentration doping In order to suppress deterioration, a substrate that is turned off by about 6 to 16 degrees in the [011] direction (or [0-1-1] direction) from the normal (100) plane is used. However, it is necessary to select an appropriate off-angle according to the target wavelength such as 650 nm and 635 nm in consideration of the thickness of the GaInP well layer and the amount of strain.
In addition, when the active layer is formed of a natural superlattice, the natural superlattice breaks and becomes mixed crystals during energization, which may cause problems such as changes in the laser oscillation wavelength or emission wavelength, and deterioration of device characteristics. is there. In order to suppress the formation of a natural superlattice even when a material containing Ga and In as constituent elements such as GaInAs, AlGaInAs, and GaInAsP other than GaInP and AlGaInP is used for the active layer. Similarly, the use of an off-substrate is also effective in solving the above-described problem.

  At this time, in order to reduce waveguide loss and mirror loss, stripe-shaped resonators are formed in a direction as perpendicular as possible to the normal substrate off direction. FIGS. 3A and 3B show a cross section of a ridge type or groove type inner stripe structure using a current blocking layer made of a conventional semiconductor. In the figure, 301 is a substrate, 302 is a first conductivity type cladding layer, 303 is an active layer, 304 is a second conductivity type cladding layer, 305 is a first conductivity type current blocking layer, 306 is a second conductivity type contact layer, 307 Is an epitaxial side electrode, 308 is a substrate side electrode, 311 is a substrate, 312 is a first conductivity type cladding layer, 313 is an active layer, 314 is a second conductivity type first cladding layer, 315 is a first conductivity type current blocking layer, Reference numeral 316 denotes a second conductivity type second cladding layer, 317 denotes a second conductivity type contact layer, 318 denotes an epitaxial side electrode, and 319 denotes a substrate side electrode. In this case, since the shape of the ridge or groove becomes asymmetrical by turning off the substrate, the light density distribution becomes asymmetrical, or current injection tends to be uneven at the bottom of the ridge or groove. It is difficult to obtain a stable fundamental transverse mode required for the information processing laser, and problems such as a decrease in the kink level and an increase in the left-right asymmetry of the beam profile are likely to occur. In particular, this problem is considered to be remarkable in the actual refractive index guide in which the bottom of the light distribution oozes out to the block layer.

  In view of these problems of the prior art, the present invention provides a semiconductor light emitting device having a ridge waveguide stripe structure that can be manufactured by a simple method and has stable laser characteristics. It was a problem to be solved. Further, in the present invention, even when a substrate with a large off-angle is used for shortening the wavelength, such as an AlGaInP / GaInP-based visible laser, the ridge-shaped left-right asymmetry in the ridge waveguide laser is high in light intensity. An object to be solved is to provide a semiconductor light emitting device that can obtain a stable fundamental transverse mode up to high output operation without being substantially affected by the left-right asymmetry of the distribution. Furthermore, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a semiconductor light emitting device that does not require complicated and fine photolithography technology, simplifies the device manufacturing process, and has an extremely good device manufacturing yield. It was.

  As a result of intensive studies to solve the above problems, the inventors of the present invention do not need a complicated and fine photolithography technique in the ridge waveguide semiconductor light emitting device by covering both sides of the stripe region with a protective film. The present inventors have found that the device manufacturing process can be simplified and the device manufacturing yield can be greatly improved. Further, it has been found that a semiconductor light-emitting device having such a structure can be easily manufactured by selective growth using a protective film, and has a large off-angle for shortening the wavelength as in the case of AlGaInP / GaInP-based visible lasers. Even when a substrate is used, the ridge-shaped left-right asymmetry of the ridge-guided laser is almost unaffected by the left-right asymmetry of the light intensity distribution, and a stable fundamental transverse mode can be obtained up to high output operation. As a result, the present invention has been reached.

That is, the present invention corresponds to a compound semiconductor layer having an active layer on a substrate whose surface has an off-angle with respect to a low-order plane orientation, and a stripe region formed on the compound semiconductor layer and into which current is injected. A semiconductor light emitting device comprising: a selective growth protective film having an opening in a region to be formed; and a ridge type compound semiconductor layer formed so as to cover the opening.
Further, the present invention corresponds to a compound semiconductor layer having an active layer on a substrate whose surface has an off-angle with respect to a low-order plane orientation, and a stripe region formed on the compound semiconductor layer and into which current is injected. There is also provided a semiconductor light emitting device comprising: a protective film having an opening in a region to be formed; and a ridge type compound semiconductor layer formed so as to cover the opening and having at least a part of a sidewall being a forward mesa type Is.

In the semiconductor light emitting device of the present invention, the compound semiconductor layer having the active layer further includes the first conductivity type cladding layer and the second conductivity type first cladding layer, or the ridge type compound semiconductor layer is the second conductivity type second cladding. It is preferable to have a layer. Further, it is preferable that the protective film is not formed on the top and side surfaces of the ridge type compound semiconductor layer. It is also preferable that the contact layer be formed so as to cover all the top and side surfaces of the ridge type compound semiconductor layer. Further, it is preferable that the ridge type compound semiconductor layer is formed so as to cover a part of the upper surface of the protective film. The low-order plane orientation of the substrate surface is preferably (100) or a plane equivalent thereto, and the off-angle is preferably 30 ° or less. The off-angle direction is preferably within ± 30 ° from the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the stripe region, and the longitudinal direction of the stripe region is ± 30 ° from [0-11] or an equivalent direction. And the off-angle direction is preferably within ± 30 ° from [011] or an equivalent direction. The active layer is preferably an AlGaInP layer or a GaInP layer, and the substrate is preferably composed of a zinc flash type crystal such as GaAs. Further, an antioxidant layer is preferably formed between the protective film and the compound semiconductor layer having an active layer, and the antioxidant layer covers the compound semiconductor layer having an active layer in the opening of the protective film.
The present invention provides a step of growing a compound semiconductor epitaxial layer having an active layer on a substrate whose surface has an off-angle with respect to a low-order plane orientation, and forms a protective film having an opening on the surface of the compound semiconductor epitaxial layer There is also provided a method for manufacturing a semiconductor light emitting device, including a step of selectively growing a ridge type compound semiconductor epitaxial layer so as to cover the opening. The compound semiconductor layer having an active layer further has a first conductivity type cladding layer and a second conductivity type first cladding layer, or the ridge type compound semiconductor layer has a second conductivity type second cladding layer. It is preferable to do. In particular, it is preferable to grow the second conductivity type second cladding layer so as to cover a part of the upper surface of the protective film.

  The semiconductor light emitting device of the present invention has stable laser characteristics and can be manufactured by a simple method. Even when a substrate having a large off-angle is used for shortening the wavelength, such as an AlGaInP / GaInP-based visible laser, the ridge-shaped left-right asymmetry in the ridge-waveguide laser is dependent on the right-left light intensity distribution. A stable fundamental transverse mode can be obtained up to high output operation with almost no influence on asymmetry. Further, according to the manufacturing method of the present invention, a semiconductor light emitting device can be manufactured with a high manufacturing yield by a simplified process that does not require a complicated and fine photolithography technique.

The semiconductor light emitting device of the present invention will be specifically described below with details of each layer and an example of a manufacturing process.
A semiconductor light emitting device of the present invention includes a compound semiconductor layer having an active layer on a substrate, and a selective growth protective film having an opening in a region corresponding to a stripe region formed on the compound semiconductor layer and into which current is injected. And a ridge type compound semiconductor layer formed so as to cover the opening.

A buffer layer may be provided on the substrate, and the first conductivity type cladding layer may have a two-layer structure including a first conductivity type first cladding layer and a first conductivity type second cladding layer. . The clad layer sandwiching the active layer is a layer having a refractive index smaller than that of the active layer. The compound semiconductor layer composed of the cladding layer and the active layer may include a layer that functions as a light guide layer.
A protective film having an opening is provided on the second conductivity type first cladding layer. An antioxidant layer may be formed between the second conductivity type first cladding layer and the protective film. A stripe region defined by the opening of the protective film and a ridge-type compound semiconductor layer including a layer having a refractive index lower than that of the active layer are provided on the stripe region. This compound semiconductor layer usually consists mostly of the second conductivity type second cladding layer. In addition to the second conductivity type second cladding layer, for example, a layer functioning as a light guide layer may be included. It is preferable that substantially the entire ridge top and side surfaces are covered with a low-resistance contact layer.

The substrate used in the semiconductor light-emitting device of the present invention is not particularly limited as to the characteristics and types of materials as long as it can grow a double heterostructure crystal thereon. Preferred is a conductive material, desirably a crystalline substrate such as GaAs, InP, GaP, ZnSe, ZnO, Si, Al ₂ O _3, etc. suitable for growing a crystalline thin film thereon, especially zinc blende type structure Is a crystal substrate. The substrate crystal growth surface is preferably a low-order surface or a crystallographically equivalent surface, and more preferably a (100) surface and a crystallographically equivalent (100) surface or (111) surface.

In the present specification, the term “(100) plane” does not necessarily have to be a (100) -shust plane strictly, and includes a case where an off-angle of about 30 ° at the maximum is included. The upper limit of the off-angle is preferably 30 ° or less, more preferably 16 ° or less, and the lower limit is preferably 0.5 ° or more, more preferably 2 ° or more, even more preferably 7 ° or more, and most preferably 10 ° or more. preferable. The off-angle direction is preferably within ± 30 ° from the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the stripe region, more preferably within ± 7 °, and most preferably within ± 2 °. The direction of the stripe region is preferably [0-11] or an equivalent direction when the plane orientation of the substrate is (100), and the off-angle direction is ± 30 ° from the [011] direction or the equivalent direction. Within directions are preferred. Further, the substrate may be a hexagonal type substrate such as a wurtzite type, and in this case, for example, Al ₂ O ₃ , 6H—SiC, or the like can be used.

The material and structure of the clad layer, active layer, and contact layer are not particularly limited. It is preferable to use it. At this time, a material having a refractive index smaller than that of the active layer is selected as the cladding layer, and a material having a band gap smaller than that of the cladding layer is usually selected as the contact layer. As a low resistance and appropriate carrier density for achieving ohmic properties with the metal electrode, the lower limit is preferably 1 × 10 ¹⁸ cm ⁻³ or more, more preferably 3 × 10 ¹⁸ cm ⁻³ or more, and 5 × 10 ¹⁸ cm. ^-3 or more is most preferable. The upper limit is preferably 2 × 10 ²⁰ cm ⁻³ or less, more preferably 5 × 10 ¹⁹ cm ⁻³ or less, and most preferably 3 × 10 ¹⁹ cm ⁻³ or less.

In particular, when the material of the active layer is a material containing Ga and In as constituent elements such as GaInP, AlGaInP, GaInAs, AlGaInAs, and GaInAsP, a natural superlattice is easily formed. The effect of lattice suppression is great.
The active layer is not limited to a single layer, but a single quantum well structure (SQW) including a quantum well layer and a light guide layer sandwiching the quantum well layer from above and below, a plurality of quantum well layers, and It may be a multi-quantum well structure (MQW) composed of a barrier layer sandwiched between and an optical guide layer stacked on the uppermost quantum well layer and below the lowermost quantum well layer.

  In the semiconductor light emitting device of the present invention, an antioxidant layer may be provided on the compound semiconductor layer. Providing the anti-oxidation layer makes it easy to prevent the generation of a high-resistance layer that increases the passage resistance at the regrowth interface when the ridge-shaped cladding is formed by regrowth. Therefore, the antioxidant layer is preferably formed between the compound semiconductor layer having the active layer and the protective film described below so that the antioxidant layer covers the compound semiconductor layer in the opening of the protective film. .

  The antioxidant layer is not particularly limited as long as it is difficult to oxidize or is a material that can be easily cleaned even if oxidized. Specifically, a group III-V compound semiconductor layer having a low content of easily oxidized elements such as Al (about 0.3 or less) can be given. Moreover, it is preferable not to absorb the light from an active layer by selecting material or thickness. The material of the antioxidant is usually selected from materials having a band gap larger than that of the active layer material, but even a material having a small band gap has a thickness of 50 nm or less, more preferably 30 nm or less, and most preferably If it is 10 nm or less, light absorption can be substantially ignored, so that it can be used.

  The protective film used in the semiconductor light emitting device of the present invention is not particularly limited, but it is necessary to be able to inject current only into the active layer region under the ridge formed in the stripe region. That is, in order to perform current confinement with the protective film on both sides of the stripe-shaped opening, the protective film needs to have insulating properties. In addition, in the active layer, the refractive index of the protective film is the ridge-type semiconductor layer, that is, the first layer, in order to provide an effective refractive index difference between the ridge portion and the non-ridge portion in the horizontal direction and to stabilize the transverse mode of laser oscillation. The refractive index is preferably smaller than the refractive index of the second conductivity type second cladding layer. However, practically, if the refractive index difference between the protective film and the cladding layer is too large, the effective refractive index step in the lateral direction in the active layer tends to increase, so the second conductivity type first cladding layer under the ridge. The leakage current tends to increase in the lateral direction. On the other hand, if the refractive index difference between the protective film and the cladding layer is too small, it is necessary to thicken the protective film to some extent because light easily leaks to the outside of the protective film, but this tends to deteriorate the cleavage property. is there. Considering these, the lower limit of the difference in refractive index between the protective film and the cladding layer is preferably 0.2 or more, more preferably 0.3 or more, and most preferably 0.5 or more. The upper limit is preferably 3.0 or less, more preferably 2.5 or less, and most preferably 1.8 or less. In addition, the thickness of the protective film is not particularly problematic as long as it has sufficient thickness to show insulating properties and does not leak light outside the protective film. The lower limit of the thickness of the protective film is preferably 10 nm or more, more preferably 30 nm or more, and most preferably 50 nm or more. The upper limit is preferably 500 nm or less, more preferably 300 nm or less, and most preferably 200 nm or less.

The protective film is preferably a dielectric, and is specifically selected from the group consisting of a SiN _x film, a SiO ₂ film, a SiON film, an Al ₂ O ₃ film, a ZnO film, a SiC film, and amorphous Si. Is preferred. In particular, the SiN _x film, the SiO ₂ film, and the Al ₂ O ₃ film are preferable because they are suitable for selective growth of the ridge portion. The protective film is used when the ridge portion is formed by selective regrowth using MOCVD or the like as a mask, and is also used for the purpose of current confinement. In view of the simplicity of the process, it is preferable to use a protective film for current confinement and a protective film for selective growth having the same composition, but if necessary, layers having different compositions may be formed in multiple layers.

  When the surface of the substrate having the zincblende structure has a (100) plane or a crystallographically equivalent plane, the second conductivity type second cladding layer easily grows on the protective layer, and the ridge (second conductivity) The stripe region defined by the opening of the protective film extends in the [01-1] B direction or a crystallographically equivalent direction so that a contact layer, which will be described later, easily grows on the side wall of the mold. It is preferable. At this time, most of the side wall of the ridge is usually formed on the [311] A plane such as the (311) A plane or the (3-1-1) A plane, and the second conductivity type second cladding layer constituting the ridge. A contact layer can be formed on almost the entire growth surface. For the same reason, when a substrate having a wurtzite structure is used, the stripe region preferably extends, for example, in the [11-20] direction or [1-100] direction on the (0001) plane. When the epitaxial layer is grown by the HVPE method, both [11-20] and [1-100] have the same result. [11-20] is preferable when the epitaxial layer is grown by the MOCVD method. This is remarkable when the second conductivity type second cladding layer is made of AlGaAs, particularly AlGaAs having an Al composition of 0.2 to 0.9, preferably 0.3 to 0.7. In the present specification, the “[01-1] B direction” exists between the (100) plane and the (01-1) plane in a normal III-V group or II-VI group semiconductor ( 11-1) It is defined so that an element of group V or group VI exists on the surface. Further, the “[01-1] B direction” includes not only the [01-1] B direction just direction but also a direction inclined by about ± 10 degrees from the [01-1] B direction. The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the embodiment in which the stripe region extends in the [01-1] B direction. Other aspects are further described below.

  For example, the growth conditions when using the MOCVD method can be determined as appropriate. For example, when the stripe region defined by the opening of the protective layer extends in the [011] A direction, the growth rate can be determined to have anisotropy. That is, it is preferable to adjust the growth rate so that the growth is fast on the (100) plane and hardly grows on the [111] B plane such as the (1-11) B plane or the (11-1) B plane. When selectively growing on the (100) plane of a striped window under such an anisotropic condition, the side surface is a [111] B plane such as a (1-11) B plane or a (11-1) B plane. Is formed. At this time, the condition of the MOCVD method is that growth is more isotropic, and [111] B on the (100) plane and (1-11) B plane or (11-1) B plane, which are the ridge tops. The contact layer is selected so as to be formed on the side surface of the ridge.

  The method for manufacturing the semiconductor light emitting device provided by the first aspect of the present invention is not particularly limited. Usually, a double heterostructure is formed on a substrate, and a protective film formed on a stripe region for current injection is used to selectively grow a second conductivity type second cladding layer and a contact layer having a ridge type. . At this time, in order to make it possible to form a part of the second conductivity type second cladding layer on the protective film, the second conductivity type second cladding layer is perpendicular to the direction in which the stripe region extends in the substrate surface. Set conditions so that it can grow easily in any direction. That is, a condition for causing lateral growth is selected. In particular, when the substrate surface is the (100) plane, the stripe region defined by the opening of the protective film is in the [01-1] B direction, and the temperature, the amount of raw material supplied, etc. are adjusted appropriately. When the second conductivity type second cladding layer is a III-V group compound semiconductor, the lateral growth is easier as the temperature is lower and the V / III ratio is larger. When using an Al-containing composition, the higher the Al content, the easier the lateral growth.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1B, the protective film is in contact with the second conductivity type cladding layer only on the side surface and the upper surface that define the stripe region, and the top and side surfaces of the ridge type second conductivity type second cladding layer. It is preferable that a protective film is not formed. Such a structure is preferable because manufacturing is easy and characteristics such as passage resistance are improved. The width of the stripe region is preferably 2.2 to 1000 μm. By setting the width within this range, a high output operation can be realized.

  The height (thickness) of the second conductivity type second cladding layer is preferably about 0.25 to 2.0 times the width of the stripe region. If it is within this range, it will not protrude significantly compared to the current blocking layer and ridge dummy layer, which will be described later, and when used in junction down, the ridge portion will be stressed and will not adversely affect the life. On the contrary, since it is significantly lower than the surroundings, it is not difficult to carry out a post-process such as an electrode forming process, which is preferable.

  A contact layer is preferably formed on the top and / or side of the ridge of the second conductivity type second cladding layer. Preferred is an embodiment in which a contact layer is formed on the entire surface of the ridge top and side surfaces. By providing a sufficient contact area between the contact layer and the electrode formed on the contact layer or the second conductivity type second cladding layer, the resistance of the entire device can be kept low. The top of the ridge and the part of the side surface on which the contact layer is formed can be covered with a protective film for the purpose of preventing oxidation. In this embodiment, the resistance of the entire device can be suppressed smaller than in the embodiment in which the protective film is formed without forming the contact layer on the ridge side surface. In particular, it is effective in reducing the resistance of the entire device in a material having a high specific resistance (particularly p-type) such as AlGaInP and AlGaInN.

  When manufacturing the semiconductor light emitting device of the present invention, a conventionally used method can be appropriately selected and used. The crystal growth method is not particularly limited. For crystal growth of a double heterostructure and selective growth of a ridge portion, metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOCVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), hydride or A known growth method such as a halide vapor phase growth method (VPE method) or a liquid phase growth method (LPE method) can be appropriately selected and used.

  In the semiconductor light emitting device of the present invention, an epitaxial layer including a first conductivity type cladding layer, an active layer, and a second conductivity type first cladding layer is grown on a substrate whose surface has an off-angle with respect to a low-order plane orientation. The protective layer can be manufactured by forming a protective film having an opening on the surface of the epitaxial layer and selectively growing a second conductivity type second cladding layer in the opening. Thereafter, it is preferable to form electrodes on the top and side surfaces of the ridge without forming a protective film on the side surface of the ridge. The specific growth conditions of each layer vary depending on the layer composition, growth method, device shape, etc., but when a III-V compound semiconductor layer is grown using the MOCVD method, the double heterostructure has a growth temperature. About 650 to 750 ° C., V / III ratio of about 20 to 60 (in the case of AlGaAs) or about 350 to 550 (in the case of AlGaInP), the ridge portion has a growth temperature of 600 to 700 ° C., and a V / III ratio of about 40 to 60 (AlGaAs ) Or about 350 to 550 (in the case of AlGaInP).

  In particular, when the ridge portion selectively grown using a protective film contains Al, such as AlGaAs or AlGaInP, it is very preferable to introduce a small amount of HCl gas during the growth because poly deposition on the mask is prevented. . However, the higher the Al composition or the higher the mask / opening ratio, the more the deposition conditions are prevented and selective growth is performed only on the opening when the other growth conditions are constant (selective mode). The amount of HCl introduced required for the above increases. On the other hand, when the introduction amount of HCl gas is too large, the growth of the AlGaAs layer does not occur, and conversely, the semiconductor layer is etched (etching mode), but when other growth conditions are made constant as the Al composition becomes higher, The amount of HCl introduced necessary to enter the etching mode increases. Therefore, the optimum amount of HCl introduced depends greatly on the number of moles of the group III raw material containing Al such as trimethylaluminum. Specifically, the ratio of the number of moles of HCl supplied to the number of moles of Group III raw material containing Al (HCl / Group III) is 0.01 to 50, more preferably 0.05 to 10, most preferably Is preferably 0.1 or more and 5 or less. However, when the compound semiconductor layer containing In in the ridge is selectively grown (particularly, HCl is introduced), the composition control of the ridge tends to be difficult.

  It is preferable that the second conductivity type second cladding layer is grown so as to cover the upper surface of the protective film made of an insulator, thereby improving the controllability of the distribution of light that leaks out in the vicinity of the protective film and the ridge. Also, a contact layer is grown on substantially the entire surface that can be grown on the second conductivity type second cladding layer to suppress oxidation of the side surface of the cladding layer or increase the contact area with the electrode on the epitaxial surface side. In addition, the contact resistance with the electrode can be reduced. The growth of the clad layer and the contact layer of the regrown portion so as to cover the upper portion of the insulating film may be performed individually, or both may be combined.

  Furthermore, when forming a ridge by regrowth, a ridge dummy layer that does not perform current injection, which has a larger area than the ridge portion to which current is injected, in order to improve controllability of the ridge composition, carrier concentration and growth rate. It is also possible to provide it. At this time, an insulating coating layer with an oxide film or the like, a thyristor structure, or the like is formed in the ridge dummy layer portion in order to prevent the passage of current. Further, when the current injection stripe is formed on the off substrate in a direction as perpendicular as possible to the off direction, the regrowth ridge is asymmetrical, but rather than the block layer made of a conventional semiconductor as shown in FIG. The difference in refractive index between the protective film and the cladding layer of the ridge can be easily increased, or by appropriately selecting the stripe direction, the regrowth layer can be grown so that the cladding layer covers the upper surface of the protective film. As a result, the symmetry of the distribution of light that leaks in the vicinity of the protective film and the ridge is good, and stable fundamental transverse mode oscillation can be obtained up to high output. Thus, the present invention is applicable to various ridge stripe type waveguide structure semiconductor light emitting devices.

  As a most preferable form to which the present invention is applied, an oxidation suppression layer is provided on the epitaxial surface side of a double heterostructure using a protective film made of an insulator on a substrate having an off-angle with respect to a low-order plane orientation. In this state, the ridge-shaped clad layer and the contact layer on the stripe region into which current is injected are regrown so as to reach the upper part of the protective film made of an insulator. An implantation ridge dummy layer is provided, and a protective film made of an insulator is not formed on the side surface of the ridge, and electrodes are formed on the upper surface and the side surface of the ridge.

The laser chip cut out from the wafer with electrodes by cleavage is usually assembled together with a heat sink and a photodiode for light output monitoring, sealed in a CAN package in a nitrogen atmosphere. Recently, for the purpose of downsizing and cost reduction, a laser chip may be assembled as an integrated optical pick integrated with optical components. The present invention can be used for a wide range of applications including these.
As a semiconductor laser device using the present invention, an information processing light source (usually an AlGaAs system (wavelength near 780 nm), an AlGaInP system (wavelength 600 nm band), an InGaN system (wavelength near 400 nm)) has been described. Usually 1.3 μm band or 1.5 μm band laser using InGaAsP or InGaAs as active layer, fiber excitation light source (InGaAs strained quantum well active layer / near 980 nm using GaAs substrate, InGaAsP strained quantum well active layer / InP substrate) It can be applied to a wide range of applications (especially high output operation) such as a semiconductor laser device for communication such as a laser. Further, even a communication laser is effective in that a laser having a nearly circular shape increases the coupling efficiency with a fiber. Furthermore, the structure of the present invention can be applied to a light emitting diode (LED) such as an edge emitting type in addition to a semiconductor laser.

  The present invention will be described more specifically with reference to the following examples. The materials, concentrations, thicknesses, operating procedures, and the like shown in the following examples can be appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the specific examples shown in the following examples.

(Example)
This embodiment is shown in FIG. First, a 0.5 μm thick Si-doped layer is formed by MOCVD on a GaAs substrate 101 having a thickness of 350 μm which is first turned off by about 10 ° or 15 ° in the [0-1-1] A direction from the (100) plane. n-type GaAs buffer layer (n = 1 × 10 ¹⁸ cm ⁻³ ) (not shown), Si-doped Al _0.75 Ga _0.25 As cladding layer (n = 1 × 10 ¹⁸ cm ⁻³ ) 102 having a thickness of 1.5 μm, Si-doped n-type (Al _0.7 Ga _0.3 ) _0.5 In _0.5 P clad layer (n = 1 × 10 ¹⁸ cm ⁻³ ) 103 having a thickness of 0.2 μm, non-doped (Al _0.5 Ga _0.5 ) _0.5 In _0.5 P having a thickness of 30 nm Multiple quantum consisting of a light guide layer 104 or a 5 nm thick non-doped (Al _0.5 Ga _0.5 ) _0.5 In _0.5 P barrier layer 105 and a 5-6 nm thick non-doped Ga _0.44 In _0.56 P well layer 106 (four layers). Well (MQ ) Active layer 107, Zn-doped p-type with a thickness of _{0.2μm (Al 0.7 Ga 0.3) 0.5} In 0.5 P cladding layer ^{(p = 7 × 10 17 cm} -3) 108, a thickness of 5 nm Zn-doped p-type Ga _0.5 A double heterostructure was formed by sequentially laminating In _0.5 P oxidation suppression layers (p = 1 × 10 ¹⁸ cm ⁻³ ) 109 (FIG. 1A). At this time, it is preferable to select the composition so that the oxidation suppression layer does not absorb the light recombined in the active layer in order to reduce the threshold current, but the light is intentionally absorbed for self-pulsation. It can also be used as a saturable absorbing layer. In order not to absorb light, the composition of the Ga _x In _1-x P oxidation suppression layer is changed to the Ga rich side (X = 0.5 to 1), or a slight amount of Al is added ((Al _{x Ga 1-x) 0.5 in} 0.5 P, the order of X = 0.1 to 0.2) it is more effective. Next, an insulating SiN _x protective film (refractive index 1.9, wavelength 650 nm) 110 nm is deposited on the surface of the double hetero substrate, and the SiN _x film 110 is orthogonal to the off-angle direction by photolithography [ [01-1] A large number of stripe-shaped windows 107 having a width of 2.2 μm are opened in the B direction. A 1.2 μm thick Zn-doped p-type Al _0.77 Ga _0.23 As cladding layer (p = 1.5 × 10 ¹⁸ cm ⁻³ ; refractive index 3) is formed on the stripe-shaped window 111 by selective growth using the MOCVD method. .3, wavelength 650 nm) 112 and a 0.3 μm thick Zn-doped GaAs contact layer 113 was formed (FIG. 1B). At this time, most of the side surface of the ridge is often the (311) A plane or a plane close thereto, and the regrowth layer is grown so that the cladding layer of the regrowth portion covers the upper surface of the protective film made of an insulator. The contact layer can be grown on substantially the entire surface that can be grown on the cladding layer. Therefore, it is possible to improve the controllability of the light distribution that leaks in the vicinity of the protective film and the ridge, suppress the oxidation of the side surface of the cladding layer, increase the contact area with the electrode on the epitaxial surface side, and contact with the electrode. Resistance can also be reduced. This tendency is remarkable when the regrowth ridge portion is AlGaAs, particularly when the Al composition of AlGaAs is 0.2 to 0.9, preferably 0.3 to 0.8. In a general group III-V compound semiconductor, [01-1] so that the (11-1) plane existing between the (100) plane and the (01-1) plane is a plane on which a group V element appears. Define the B direction.

  In the above MOCVD method, trimethylgallium (TMG), trimethylaluminum (TMA), and trimethylindium (TMI) were used as the group III source material, arsine and phosphine as the group V source material, and hydrogen as the carrier gas. Dimethyl zinc was used for the p-type dopant and disilane was used for the n-type dopant. Also, during the ridge growth, HCl gas was introduced so that the molar ratio of HCl / III group was 0.2, especially the molar ratio of HCl / TMA was 0.3.

  Thereafter, a p-type electrode 114 was deposited on the epitaxial surface side, the substrate 101 was thinned to 100 μm, and then an n-type electrode 115 was deposited on the substrate side and alloyed (FIG. 1C). A chip was cut out from the thus produced wafer by cleavage to form a laser resonator structure. The characteristics of the laser chip produced in this way were measured within the batch and between batches. As a result, the laser chip oscillated in the vicinity of a wavelength of 650 nm and the characteristics such as threshold current and slope efficiency were very well aligned. It was found that high reliability can be obtained. Further, it was found that no kink was observed up to a high output of at least about 50 mW, and oscillation occurred in a stable fundamental transverse mode.

It is sectional explanatory drawing explaining the semiconductor light-emitting device and its manufacturing method of this invention. It is sectional explanatory drawing explaining the semiconductor light-emitting device which forms the conventional ridge part by an etching, and its manufacturing method. It is sectional explanatory drawing explaining the semiconductor light-emitting device of the ridge type or groove type inner stripe structure using the current block layer which consists of the conventional semiconductor, and its manufacturing method.

Claims (18)

  A compound semiconductor layer having an active layer on a substrate whose surface has an off-angle with respect to a low-order plane orientation, and an opening in a region corresponding to the stripe region formed on the compound semiconductor layer and into which current is injected And a right-and-left asymmetric ridge-type compound semiconductor layer formed to cover the opening and to cover a part of the upper surface of the protective film.   A compound semiconductor layer having an active layer on a substrate whose surface has an off-angle with respect to a low-order plane orientation, and an opening in a region corresponding to the stripe region formed on the compound semiconductor layer and into which current is injected And a left-right asymmetric ridge-type compound semiconductor layer that covers the opening and covers a part of the upper surface of the protective film, and at least a part of the side wall is a forward mesa type. A semiconductor light emitting device.   A compound semiconductor layer having an active layer on a substrate whose surface has an off-angle with respect to a low-order plane orientation, and an opening in a region corresponding to the stripe region formed on the compound semiconductor layer and into which current is injected And a ridge-type compound semiconductor layer formed so as to cover the opening and cover a part of the upper surface of the protective film, and has an actual refractive index guide structure. A semiconductor light emitting device.   A compound semiconductor layer having an active layer on a substrate whose surface has an off-angle with respect to a low-order plane orientation, and an opening in a region corresponding to the stripe region formed on the compound semiconductor layer and into which current is injected And a ridge-type compound semiconductor layer that covers the opening and covers a part of the upper surface of the protective film, and at least a part of the side wall of which is a forward mesa type. A semiconductor light-emitting device having a refractive index guide structure.   5. The semiconductor light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the compound semiconductor layer having the active layer further includes a first conductivity type cladding layer and a second conductivity type first cladding layer. 6.   The semiconductor light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the ridge type compound semiconductor layer has a second conductivity type second cladding layer.   The semiconductor light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein a protective film is not formed on the top and side surfaces of the ridge-type compound semiconductor layer.   8. The semiconductor light emitting element according to claim 7, wherein a contact layer is formed so as to cover all the top and side surfaces of the ridge type compound semiconductor layer.   9. The semiconductor light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein a low-order plane orientation of the substrate surface is (100) or a plane equivalent thereto.   The semiconductor light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the off angle is 30 ° or less.   The semiconductor light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the off angle is 0.5 ° or more.   The longitudinal direction of the stripe region is within ± 30 ° from [0-11] or equivalent direction, and the off-angle direction is within ± 30 ° from [011] or equivalent direction. The semiconductor light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein:   The semiconductor light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the active layer is an AlGaInP layer or a GaInP layer.   The semiconductor light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is made of a zinc flash type crystal.   The semiconductor light-emitting device according to claim 14, wherein the substrate is made of GaAs.   An antioxidant layer is formed between the protective film and the compound semiconductor layer having the active layer, and the antioxidant layer covers the compound semiconductor layer having the active layer in the opening of the protective film. Item 16. The semiconductor light emitting device according to any one of Items 1 to 15.   A step of growing a compound semiconductor epitaxial layer having an active layer on a substrate whose surface has an off-angle with respect to a low-order plane orientation, and forming a protective film having a stripe-shaped opening on the surface of the compound semiconductor epitaxial layer A step (however, the off-angle direction is within ± 30 ° from the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the stripe-shaped opening), and a part of the upper surface of the protective film covering the opening And a method of selectively growing a left-right asymmetric ridge type compound semiconductor epitaxial layer having a second conductivity type second cladding layer.   18. The method of manufacturing a semiconductor light emitting device according to claim 17, wherein the compound semiconductor layer having the active layer further includes a first conductivity type cladding layer and a second conductivity type first cladding layer.

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