JPH04294589A - Method for coating cleavage plane of semiconductor laser type device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a method of coating the cleavage plane of a semiconductor laser type device in a sort time through a simple process and, in addition, at a high manufacturing yield. CONSTITUTION:Semiconductor laser chip bars 1 are held by a fixing jig, with their cleavage planes 4a and 4b being exposed, and the jig is set in a rotary holder 10. A coating gas is blown upon the cleavage planes 4a and 4b while the bars 1 are rotated by rotating the holder 10. When the coating gas is blown upon the bars 1 in such way, protective films are uniformly formed on the planes 4a and 4b. When the holder 10 is rotated, the bars 1 are held in such a way that one electrode 2b is pressurized and the other electrode 2a is pressed against the internal wall surface of a supporting frame 6 by means of springs 7a and 7b.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to the cleavage plane of semiconductor laser type devices used as optical functional devices such as light sources, optical switches, and optical amplifiers in various fields such as optical communication, optical measurement, optical recording, and optical information processing. The present invention relates to a coating method.

0002

[Prior Art] In recent years, in order to improve the functionality and reliability of semiconductor laser type devices, SiO2 has been added to the cleavage plane.
Coating with a thin film of Al2O3 or Al2O3 has been carried out. As a coating method, there is a conventional method disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-204490. That is, in this method, semiconductor laser chip bars are arranged in an array on a holder, and one cleavage surface is first coated. Then, each of these chips
The bar was removed from the holder, flipped over to expose the other cleavage surface, and replaced in the holder, and the coating was applied to the other cleavage surface.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the above-mentioned conventional coating method has the following problems. In other words, since the chip bar is minute, it is difficult to take the chip bar out of the holder, turn it over, and fix it in the holder again when coating the other cleavage surface. Furthermore, since there is a high possibility that the cleavage plane will be damaged during this operation, it has been impossible to increase the manufacturing yield of semiconductor chips. Furthermore, when taking out the chip bars from the holder in order to rearrange them, it is necessary to once return the inside of the coating apparatus to atmospheric pressure. Then, after the work was completed, the inside of the coating apparatus had to be evacuated again and the inside of the apparatus had to be reset to a vacuum state. For this reason, the manufacturing time for semiconductor laser chips has become long.

0004

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and involves holding a semiconductor laser type device with the cleavage plane exposed, and coating/coating the cleavage plane while rotating the device. A protective film is formed on the cleavage plane by irradiating gas.

Further, a semiconductor laser type device is held by an elastic body having one electrode surface pressed and the other electrode surface pressed against an inner wall surface of a support frame.

[0006]

[Operation] Since the device is rotated to irradiate the coating gas onto the cleavage planes, each opposing cleavage plane is coated at the same time. Therefore, it is possible to coat both cleavage surfaces without breaking the vacuum during the process, and it is expected that manufacturing time will be shortened compared to conventional methods.

Furthermore, since the device is held against the support frame by the elastic body, the device can be easily attached and detached.

[0008]

[Embodiment] Next, a method for coating a cleavage surface of a semiconductor laser according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a semiconductor laser chip bar 1 coated by the method according to this embodiment. The chip bar 1 has opposing electrodes 2a,
2b and a semiconductor layer 3 sandwiched therebetween. Laser light is emitted from the semiconductor layer 3 exposed at the cleavage planes 4a and 4b. This method uses these cleavage planes 4a, 4
This is a method of forming a thin film on the cleavage surface 4a, 4b, and this thin film protects each cleavage surface 4a, 4b from deterioration due to oxidation or the like, thereby ensuring long-term reliability. Further, it is possible to set the reflectance of the cleavage plane to be reduced or increased.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the chip bar fixing jig 5. As shown in FIG. The fixing jig 5 includes a hollow support frame 6 and a slide plate 8 pressed against the inner wall surface of the support frame 6 by springs 7a and 7b. In addition, the support frame 6
Projections 6a and 6b are provided at the upper and lower parts of the illustration.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the state in which the chip bar 1 is held by the fixture 5. As shown in FIG. That is, the fixing jig 5
The slide plate 8 is moved against the springs 7a and 7b, and the semiconductor laser chip bar 1 is sandwiched in the space created by this movement. At this time, chip bar 1
In this case, one electrode 2b forming surface is brought into contact with the slide plate 8, and the other electrode 2
The a-forming surface is held so as to be pressed against the inner wall surface of the support frame 6.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a state in which a plurality of fixing jigs 5 holding chip bars 1 are attached to a rotary holder 10. That is, the protrusions 6a, 6 of the fixing jig 5
b is fitted into a groove formed on the inner wall surface of the rotary holder 10, and each fixing jig 5 is fixed to the rotary holder 10. A connecting portion 11 is formed at the top of the rotary holder 10 as shown in the drawing. Although the figure shows a case where three fixing jigs 5 are attached to the rotary holder 10, the number of fixing jigs 5 attached can be any desired number.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the rotating holder 10 set in a rotating device. That is, the connecting portion 11 of the rotary holder 10 is mechanically connected to the rotating shaft of the motor 12, and the rotation of the motor 12 causes the rotary holder 10 to rotate as shown by the arrow in the figure.

In this configuration, the interior of the coating apparatus is set to a vacuum state, and the coating gas is irradiated from the direction shown in the figure while rotating the rotary holder 10. By rotating the rotary holder 10, each cleavage surface 4a, 4b of the chip bar 1 is alternately irradiated with coating gas. Therefore, a single layer or multilayer protective thin film is simultaneously formed on each of the opposing cleavage surfaces 4a and 4b.

As described above, according to the coating method according to the present embodiment, there is no need to remove and rearrange the chip bar in order to expose the other cleavage plane during the coating process, unlike the conventional method. Furthermore, there is no need to return the state inside the coating apparatus to atmospheric pressure and set it to a vacuum state again. Therefore, it becomes possible to manufacture a semiconductor laser chip by a simple process and in a short time without involving difficult work as in the conventional method.

[0016] Furthermore, in the conventional method, the coating gas was irradiated with the chip bar stationary;
The uniformity of the protective film formed on the cleavage plane was not good. However, according to this embodiment, since the coating process is performed while rotating the chip bar 1 as described above, the uniformity of the protective film on each cleavage surface 4a, 4b is improved. Furthermore, in the conventional method, since the minute chip bar is tightly fitted into the groove of the holder, it is difficult to attach and detach the tip bar, and there is a high possibility that the cleavage surface will be damaged during attachment and detachment. In particular, in the conventional method, it is necessary to attach and detach the chip bar even during the coating process on each cleavage surface, which increases the probability of damaging the chip bar and lowers the manufacturing yield. On the other hand, the attachment and detachment of the chip bar 1 in this embodiment is carried out by the sliding plate 8 of each fixing jig 5.
This can be done by simply moving the That is, even if the chip bar 1 is minute, it can be easily attached and detached, and there is no need to attach and detach the tip bar 1 during the coating process. Therefore, according to the method according to this embodiment, the risk of damaging the chip bar 1 is reduced, and the manufacturing yield is improved.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the device is rotated to irradiate the coating gas onto the cleavage planes, each of the opposing cleavage planes is coated simultaneously. Furthermore, since the device is held against the support frame by the elastic body, the device can be easily attached and detached.

[0018] Therefore, the coating process can be performed on the cleavage plane of the semiconductor laser type device using a simple process and in a short time. Moreover, the manufacturing yield of devices is improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a method for coating a cleavage surface of a semiconductor laser type device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a semiconductor laser chip bar whose cleavage plane is to be coated in this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a fixture that holds a semiconductor laser chip bar.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a semiconductor laser chip bar held by a fixture.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a rotary holder in which a plurality of fixing jigs are set.

[Explanation of symbols]

1...Semiconductor laser chip bar 2a, 2b...electrodes 3...Semiconductor layer 4a, 4b...cleavage plane 5...Fixing jig 6...Support frame 6a, 6b...Protrusions 7a, 7b...Spring 8...Slide plate 10...Rotating holder 11...Connection part 12...Motor

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A semiconductor laser type device is held with the cleavage plane exposed, and the cleavage plane is irradiated with a coating gas while the device is rotated to form a protective film on the cleavage plane. Cleavage surface coating method for semiconductor laser type devices. 2. The semiconductor laser type device according to claim 1, wherein one electrode surface is pressed by an elastic body and the other electrode surface is pressed and held against the inner wall surface of the support frame. Cleavage surface coating method for semiconductor laser type devices.