Abstract
Semiconductor lasers fabricated by the traditional process for communication application usually adopt a ridge-waveguide structure for its ease of manufacture. However, the rugged planes of these devices would cause metal coverage problems and interconnection difficulty. A planarization technique based on a self-aligned technique for fabricating the ridge-weaveguide semiconductor laser diode is introduced in this article. The technique is based on a process called ""self-terminated oxide polish."" By using this technique, metal coverage problems usually encountered in the laser diode with a double trench structure will be reduced. Since the metal pad lies on a thick oxide layer, the device will also have a lower parasitic capacitance, which will be beneficial to high-speed operation. Device characteristics of several ridge-waveguide laser diodes fabricated using this self-aligned method will be presented. © 2005 American Vacuum Society.