Enhanced vbasis laser diode package

1. A laser diode array comprising:

a substrate having an upper surface and a lower surface;

a plurality of v grooves formed in the upper surface, each v groove including a first side and a second side perpendicular to the first side; and

a plurality of laser diode bar assemblies, wherein a laser diode bar assembly is disposed within each of the v grooves and attached to the first side, wherein the laser diode bar assembly includes:

a first adhesion layer disposed on the first side of the v groove;

a metal plate attached to the first adhesion layer;

a second adhesion layer disposed over the metal plate; and

a laser diode bar attached to the second adhesion layer,

wherein, the laser diode bar is characterized by a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) substantially similar to that of the metal plate; and

a monolithic lens array including a plurality of lenses configured to collimate light emitted by the plurality of laser diode bar assemblies, wherein the monolithic lens array is formed on a single substrate; and wherein the plurality of lenses are defocused to compensate for CTE mismatch between the CTE of the laser diode bar and a CTE of the single substrate that forms the monolithic lens array.

2. The laser diode array of claim 1 wherein the first adhesion layer includes an indium based solder material.

3. The laser diode array of claim 1 wherein the metal plate includes a plurality of layers comprising:

a first copper layer;

a molybdenum layer attached to the first copper layer; and

a second copper layer attached to the molybdenum layer.

4. The laser diode array of claim 1 wherein the second adhesion layer includes gold and tin.

5. The laser diode array of claim 1 wherein the metal plate has a thickness of between 300 μm to 600 μm.

6. The laser diode array of claim 1 wherein the silicon substrate is a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate.

7. A laser diode assembly comprising:

a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) mounting substrate configured to provide structural support to the diode assembly;

a first layer including a first solder material disposed on the SOI mounting substrate;

a heat spreader structure attached to the first layer;

a second layer including a second solder material disposed on the heat spreader structure;

a laser diode bar attached to the second layer; and

a lens disposed over the laser diode bar, wherein the lens is part of a monolithic lens array that includes a plurality of lenses formed on a single substrate; and wherein the plurality of lenses are defocused to compensate for a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between a CTE of the laser diode bar and a CTE of the single substrate that forms the monolithic lens array.

8. The laser diode assembly of claim 7 wherein the heat spreader is characterized by a thickness of between 300 μm and 600 μm.

9. The laser diode assembly of claim 8 wherein a tolerance value for the thickness of the heat spreader is between 10 μm and 50 μm.

10. The laser diode assembly of claim 7 wherein the heat spreader is a multilayer structure and includes at least one of copper, diamond, tungsten, or molybdenum.

11. The laser diode assembly of claim 7 wherein the first layer comprises indium.

12. The laser diode assembly of claim 7 wherein the second layer comprises gold and tin.

13. The laser diode assembly of claim 7 wherein the heat spreader has a coefficient of thermal expansion substantially similar to that of the laser diode bar.

14. The laser diode assembly of claim 7 wherein the heat spreader structure is selected based on a figure of merit (FOM), wherein:

FOM=sqrt(ρ* C*K );

where ρ is a density of the heat spreader structure, C is a specific heat capacity of the heat spreader structure, and K is a thermal conductivity of the heat spreader structure.