Micro-electro-mechanical tunable vertical cavity surface emitting lasers using metal flexures and a top dielectric stack distributed Bragg reflector

Author

Harvey, M.C. ; Lott, James A. ; Nelson, T.R., Jr. ; Stintz, A. ; Malloy, K.J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Air Force Inst. of Technol., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, USA

fYear

2002

fDate

2002

Firstpage

11

Lastpage

12

Abstract

Summary form only given. In this study we design, fabricate, and characterize tunable "membrane" VCSELs using novel micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) piston micromirror designs that include metal or hybrid metal/dielectric top flexures. The device structures start as conventional 980 nm resonant cavity light-emitting diodes (RCLEDs) with selectively oxidized AlGaO current apertures. We use a photosensitive spin-on polymer (polymethylglutarimide - PMGI) material as the sacrificial material between the RCLED and the upper flexure. Up to seven photolithographic mask steps are used to define/create mesas.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; gallium arsenide; masks; microcavity lasers; micromechanical devices; molecular beam epitaxial growth; optical fabrication; photolithography; semiconductor lasers; surface emitting lasers; 980 nm; AlGaO; MEM-tunable VCSEL; MEMS; hybrid metal/dielectric top flexures; mesas; metal flexures; micro-electro-mechanical systems; micro-electro-mechanical tunable vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; photolithographic mask steps; piston micromirror designs; polymethylglutarimide; resonant cavity light-emitting diodes; selectively oxidized AlGaO current apertures; top dielectric stack distributed Bragg reflector; tunable membrane VCSEL; Biomembranes; Dielectric materials; Distributed Bragg reflectors; Microelectromechanical systems; Micromechanical devices; Micromirrors; Pistons; Surface emitting lasers; Tunable circuits and devices; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Semiconductor Laser Conference, 2002. IEEE 18th International

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7598-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISLC.2002.1041094

Filename

1041094