JPS61229381A - Semiconductor device temperature controlling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control a plurality of semiconductor devices at different temperatures by a temperature controlling apparatus, by mounting the plurality of the semiconductor devices to a block-shaped heat conducting member, and by providing with a temperature controlling device in a section of the heat conducting member to cause flow of heat therein. CONSTITUTION:Three semiconductor lasers 1, 2, 3 are mounted in a block- shaped heat sink 4 being a heat conducting member in a row transversely. In the lower central section of the heat sink 4, an electronic cooling device 5 for controlling the temperature is provided. The heat is circulated within the heat sink 4 in the arrow direction. Accordingly, along the path in which heat flows, the semiconductor laser 1 becomes highest in temperature, and the semiconductor lasers 2 and 3 are reduced gradually in temperature. Therefore, if the respective semiconductor lasers are preliminarily placed at given positions within the heat sink 4 and the electronic cooling device 5 is driven so that the respective temperatures are at given values, the respective semiconductor lasers can be controlled at appropriate different temperatures through the use of the heat sink.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of the Invention) The present invention relates to a semiconductor element temperature control device;
In particular, the present invention relates to a semiconductor element temperature control device that can extremely easily perform temperature control to make the temperatures of a plurality of semiconductor elements different from each other.

(Technical Background and Prior Art of the Invention) As is well known, semiconductor devices are used in various technical fields such as transistors and integrated circuits, and various scanning recording devices that scan by deflecting a light beam with an optical deflector. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, semiconductor lasers have been used as one of the means for generating a light beam in light beam scanning devices such as scanners and scanning reading devices.

A plurality of these semiconductor devices may be used at the same time depending on the application. For example, when the semiconductor laser used in the above-mentioned optical beam scanning device is continuously oscillated, the output is currently as small as 20 to 30 mW at most, and in the optical beam scanning device that requires high-energy scanning light, one semiconductor laser Since the emitted laser beam does not have enough energy, multiple semiconductor lasers are used to obtain a scanning beam with sufficient energy from a low-power semiconductor laser. It is conceivable to combine the beams into one beam along the optical path and use it as a scanning beam.

By the way, semiconductor devices are usually highly temperature dependent, and during operation, there are cases where the temperature needs to be controlled so that the temperature is suitable for operation. In some cases, it is necessary to perform highly accurate temperature control for each semiconductor element.

Furthermore, the temperature control for the plurality of semiconductor elements described above is
In addition to controlling all the semiconductor elements to the same temperature, for example, when using multiple semiconductor lasers at the same time, if you control all the semiconductor lasers to the exact same temperature, the oscillation wavelength from each semiconductor laser will be the same and beat. Therefore, it is desirable to control each semiconductor laser so that its temperature is slightly different from each other. Also, regarding semiconductor elements other than semiconductor lasers, when using multiple elements with different characteristics at the same time, each semiconductor element is heated to a different temperature that is optimal for operation according to its characteristics. There may be a need to control.

However, as mentioned above, it is undesirable from a cost standpoint to provide temperature control means for each of multiple semiconductor elements in order to control the temperature of the multiple semiconductor elements so that they are at different temperatures. There is a need for a temperature control device that can easily and inexpensively control different temperatures of a plurality of semiconductor elements.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned needs, and provides a semiconductor device temperature that can extremely easily control a plurality of semiconductor devices to different temperatures and that is inexpensive to manufacture. The purpose of this invention is to provide a control device.

(Structure of the Invention) The semiconductor element temperature control device of the present invention is provided in a block-shaped heat conductive member to which a plurality of semiconductor elements are attached, and a part of this heat conductive member, so that heat flows within the heat conductive member. The device is characterized in that the heat flow causes the temperatures of the plurality of semiconductor elements to be different from each other. That is, in the present invention, the temperature control element is driven to generate a heat flow within the heat conduction member, and the temperature of the portion of the heat conduction member to which each semiconductor element is attached is made to differ from each other due to the heat flow. This makes it possible to easily control a plurality of semiconductor elements to different temperatures using one temperature control element.

(Embodiments) Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of a semiconductor device temperature control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

- As an example, three semiconductor lasers 1, 2.3 are mounted in a horizontal row in a block-shaped heat sink 4, which is a thermally conductive member. These semiconductor lasers have lead wires 1A and 2A, respectively.

It can operate by being supplied with power from 3A.

At the center of the lower end of the heat sink 4, an electronic cooling element 5 such as a Beltier element, which is a temperature control element, is provided. The electronic cooling element 5 absorbs heat from one end surface 5A to cool the vicinity of the end surface 5A of the heat sink 4, and releases the absorbed heat into the heat sink 4 from the other end surface 5B. Since the electronic cooling element 5 has a hole 4A above it as shown in FIG.
It circulates as shown by the arrow in the figure. Therefore heat sink 4
Among them, the temperature T1 of the part in contact with one end surface 5A of the electronic cooling element is the lowest, and the temperature T1 of the part in contact with one end surface 5A of the electronic cooling element is the lowest.
The temperature T2 of the part in contact with is the highest temperature a. Further, among the three semiconductor lasers described above, the semiconductor device laser 1 has the highest temperature along the heat flow direction, and the temperature of the semiconductor laser 1 gradually decreases in the order of the semiconductor laser 2 and the semiconductor laser 3. is determined by the position of TIN and the temperature T2. Therefore, each semiconductor laser is placed in advance at a predetermined position within the heat sink, and the temperature TI
, T2 becomes a predetermined temperature.
By driving the semiconductor lasers, it is possible to control each semiconductor laser to the most suitable temperature, which is different from each other, through the heat sink. If the temperatures of the plurality of semiconductor lasers are controlled to be different from each other in this manner, the oscillation wavelengths of the respective semiconductor lasers will be different from each other, and problems such as beats will not occur.

Further, in the above embodiment, a case has been described in which a semiconductor laser is used as the semiconductor element, but instead of the semiconductor laser, a plurality of other semiconductor elements having different optimum operating concentrations are used in the above apparatus at operating temperatures. It is also possible to control the temperature so that each semiconductor element reaches the optimum temperature for operation by attaching it to a heat sink and generating a flow of heat within the heat sink using the electronic cooling element as described above. In any case, according to the apparatus of the present invention, only one temperature control element is provided for a plurality of semiconductor elements, and
Since all semiconductor elements can be controlled to different temperatures at the same time, great effects can be achieved at low cost.

Note that the flow of heat generated by the temperature control element is not limited to circulating within the heat sink as described above; for example, when the circulating temperature at which the device is used is approximately constant, a heat conductive member One end is cooled to a constant temperature, and a plurality of semiconductor elements are mounted on a heat conductive member so that the distances to the temperature control element are different from each other, so that the temperature of the semiconductor elements decreases in the order of distance from the temperature control element. It is also possible to control the Further, the cooling element used as the temperature control element is not limited to the electronic cooling element, and a heater may be used instead of the cooling element. It goes without saying that the number and arrangement of semiconductor elements, the shape of the heat conductive member, etc. are not limited to those described above, and may be set arbitrarily.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the semiconductor element temperature control device of the present invention, a plurality of semiconductor elements are attached to a block-shaped heat conductive member, and a part of the heat conductive member is provided with an electronic cooling element, etc. By providing a temperature control element to generate a heat flow within the heat conduction member, it is possible to control multiple semiconductor elements to different temperatures with one temperature control element, and with a low manufacturing cost device, It becomes possible to control different temperatures of a plurality of semiconductor elements very easily.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of a semiconductor element temperature control device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining the flow of heat in the device of the above embodiment. 1.2.3...Semiconductor laser 4...Heat sink 5...Electronic cooling element first
Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] It consists of a block-shaped heat conductive member to which a plurality of semiconductor elements are attached, and a temperature control element that is provided in a part of the heat conductive member and causes a flow of heat within the heat conductive member,
A semiconductor element temperature control device characterized in that the temperature of the plurality of semiconductor elements is made to be different from each other by the heat flow.