The simulation of thermal characteristics of 980 nm vertical cavity surface emitting lasers

In order to design a single mode 980 nm vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL), a 2 μm output aperture is designed to guarantee the single mode output. The effects of different mesa sizes on the lattice temperature, the output power and the voltage are simulated under the condition of continuous working at room temperature, to obtain the optimum process parameters of mesa. It is obtained by results of the crosslight simulation software that the sizes of mesa radius are between 9.5 to 12.5 μm, which cannot only obtain the maximum output power, but also improve the heat dissipation of the device.