Radiation-emitting semiconductor body for a vertically emitting laser and method for producing same

1. A method of producing a radiation-emitting semiconductor body with a vertical emission direction, the method comprising:

forming a semiconductor body including an active layer and a current-conducting layer positioned between a first cladding layer and a second cladding layer,

a. the first cladding layer having a first conduction type,

b. the current-conducting layer having a current blocking region of a second conduction type and a current-permeable region of the first conduction type; and

c. the second cladding layer having the first conduction type; and

forming a laser resonator containing at least a portion of the semiconductor body to produce the radiation-emitting semiconductor body

forming the current-conducting layer having a second conduction type throughout the current-conducting layer, the current-conducting layer being formed over the first cladding layer in the vertical emission direction;

forming the second cladding layer having the first conduction type throughout the second cladding layer, the second cladding layer being formed over the current-conducting layer in the vertical emission direction;

applying a dopant source including a dopant of the first conduction type to the second cladding layer and

diffusing the dopant into the current-conducting layer to form the current-permeable region by reversing the conduction type within a portion of the current-conducting layer, forming a vertical current path in the semiconductor body through the first cladding layer, the current-permeable region of the current-conducting layer and the second cladding layer.

2. The method of claim 1 , where the current-conducting region is doped throughout with a dopant of the second conduction type prior to applying the dopant of the first conduction type to form the current-permeable region.

3. The method of claim 1 , where the first cladding layer and the second cladding layer are formed as p-doped materials and the current-conducting layer comprises a n-doped material in the current-blocking region and a p-doped material in the current-permeable region.

4. The method of claim 3 , where each of the first cladding layer, the current-conducting layer and the second cladding layer comprise a material selected from the group consisting of: AlGaAs and AlGaInP.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a mirror structure within the semiconductor body, the active layer comprising a quantum well structure positioned between the mirror layer and the portion of the semiconductor body comprising the first cladding layer, the current-conducting layer and the second cladding layer.

6. The method of claim 5 , where the mirror structure is formed as a Bragg mirror with a plurality of alternating semiconductor layers having different indices of refraction.

7. The method of claim 6 , where the semiconductor body further comprises a substrate and the mirror structure is formed by epitaxially growing the plurality of alternating semiconductor layers on the substrate.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising growing the active layer, the first cladding layer, the current-conducting layer and the second cladding layer between a radiation decoupling surface and the substrate.

9. The method of claim 6 , where the mirror structure comprises a plurality of alternating GaAs and/AlGaAs layers.

10. The method of claim 5 , where the active layer contains at least one material selected from the group consisting of: InGaP, InGaAs, GaAs, AlInGaP and AlGaAs.

11. The method of claim 5 , where the active layer comprises a p-doped InGaP layer embedded between two AlGaInP layers.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a mirror structure within the semiconductor body, the active layer comprising a quantum well structure positioned between the mirror layer and the portion of the semiconductor body comprising the first cladding layer, the current-conducting layer and the second cladding layer.

13. The method of claim 12 , where the dopant source comprises zinc.

14. The method of claim 1 , where semiconductor body comprises a plurality of layers including the first cladding layer, the current-conducting layer and the second cladding layer, each layer formed from a material selected from the group consisting of:

a. In x Al y Ga 1-x-y As wherein 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1 and 0≦x+y≦1,

b. In x Al y Ga 1-x-y P wherein 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1 and 0≦x+y≦1,

c. In x Al y Ga 1-x-y N wherein 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1 and 0≦x+y≦1,

d. In x Al y Ga 1-x-y As u N 1-u wherein 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1, 0≦x+y≦1 and 0≦u≦1,

e. In x Al y Ga 1-x-y As u P 1-u wherein 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1, 0≦x+y≦1 and 0≦u≦1; and

f. In x Al y Ga 1-x-y P u N 1-u wherein 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1, 0≦x+y≦1 and 0≦u≦1.

15. A method for producing a radiation-emitting semiconductor body with a vertical emission direction, the method comprising:

a. providing a growth substrate,

b. epitaxially growing an active layer comprising a quantum well structure over the growth substrate, and

c. forming a current-conducting layer with a current-blocking region over the active layer, wherein forming the current-conducting layer comprises:

i. growing a first cladding layer of a first conduction type,

ii. growing the current-conducting layer of a second conduction type,

iii. growing a second cladding layer of the first conduction type, and

d. doping the current-conducting layer with a dopant to form a current-permeable region within the current-conducting layer by increasing the dopant concentration within a portion of the current-conducting layer to cause the current-permeable region to be of the first conduction type; the current permeable region being configured to overlap with a defined resonator volume of an external resonator to form a vertical emitting laser.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the doping of the current-conducting layer includes applying a dopant source comprising the dopant to the second cladding layer in a region formed over the current-conducting layer in the vertical emission direction, the dopant being subsequently diffused into the current-permeable region, to form the current-permeable region within the current-conducting layer.

17. The production method of claim 16 , where the dopant source is removed after the diffusion of the dopant into the current-conducting layer.

18. The production method of claim 15 , wherein the dopant is zinc.

19. A method of producing a radiation-emitting semiconductor body with a vertical emission direction, the method comprising:

a. forming a semiconductor body having a plurality of layers and formed by one or more steps including

i. epitaxially growing an active layer comprising a quantum well structure over a growth substrate, and

ii. forming a current-conducting layer with a current-blocking region and a current-permeable region over the active layer, wherein forming the current-conducting layer comprises:

1. growing a first cladding layer of a first conduction type formed over the active layer in the vertical emission direction,

2. growing the current-conducting layer of a second conduction type formed over the first cladding layer in the vertical emission direction, and

3. growing a second cladding layer of the first conduction type over the current-conducting layer in the vertical emission direction;

the semiconductor body comprising a plurality of layers including the first cladding layer, the current-conducting layer and the second cladding layer formed from a material selected from the group consisting of:

i. In x Al y Ga 1-x-y As wherein 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1 and 0≦x+y≦1,

ii. In x Al y Ga 1-x-y P wherein 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1 and 0≦x+y≦1,

iii. In x Al y Ga 1-x-y N wherein 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1 and 0≦x+y≦1,

iv. In x Al y Ga 1-x-y As u N 1-u wherein 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1, 0≦x+y≦1 and 0≦u≦1,

v. In x Al y Ga 1-x-y As u P 1-u wherein 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1, 0≦x+y≦1 and 0≦u≦1; and

vi. In x Al y Ga 1-x-y P u N 1-u wherein 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1, 0≦x+y≦1 and 0≦u≦1;

b. applying a dopant source including a dopant of the first conduction type to the second cladding layer;

c. diffusing the dopant into the current-conducting layer to form the current-permeable region by reversing the conduction type within a portion of the current-conducting layer, to form a vertical current path in the semiconductor body through the first cladding layer, the current-permeable region of the current-conducting layer and the second cladding layer; and

d. forming a laser resonator containing at least the current-permeable region of the current-conducting layer of the semiconductor body and the quantum well structure to produce the radiation-emitting semiconductor body.