Implant-apertured and index-guided vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (I2-VCSELs)

We have fabricated vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) which, for the first time, effectively combine a shallow ion implanted aperture, for current confinement under a thin highly conducting lateral current injection layer, and an independent index guide for optical beam confinement (I/sup 2/-VCSELs). Both features are possible only because they are made before a top dielectric mirror is deposited and patterned, and are photolithographically defined for improved size reproducibility compared to oxide-confined designs. The devices emit near 980 nm and have optical power outputs of 1 mW at 2.5-mA input. The 12-VCSEL design also easily incorporates coplanar contacts allowing us to operate flip-chip bonded I/sup 2/-VCSEL's on silicon test chips at data rates of nearly 1 Gb/s.