AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Electronic Materials and Processing Thursday Sessions
       Session EM-ThP

Paper EM-ThP63
An Investigation of Thermal Management in Laser Diode Structures

Thursday, November 16, 2006, 5:30 pm, Room 3rd Floor Lobby

Session: Electronic Materials and Processing Poster Session
Presenter: D. Roberts, University of Missouri-Columbia
Authors: D. Roberts, University of Missouri-Columbia
G. Triplett, University of Missouri-Columbia
Correspondent: Click to Email
As electronic device feature sizes decrease to several nanometers, the ability to effectively remove heat through the packaging remains a technical challenge. Thermal management issues in electronic systems have been a limiting factor for high-power as well as optoelectronic device applications. In optoelectronic applications, thermal issues dramatically affect device operation, particularly in laser diodes. The active region in laser diodes (which can be several microns thick) are particularly sensitive to heat as it pertains to the lasing threshold because of large injection current density. Whereas larger bandgap materials are less temperature dependent, they are inappropriate for optical-fiber applications. This large injection current density also results in shorter device lifetimes. Current heat removal techniques involve fluidic cooling, epi-down packaging, and thermoelectric coolers. These techniques have several advantages; however, certain limitations exist with these solutions. The ability to effectively remove heat at a rate that supports higher-power (~1kW/cm@super2@) operation remains a technical barrier. Our approach is to focus on the substrate for heat removal. In their current form, substrates lack the thermal conductivity required to deal with these operating conditions. In this paper we will discuss thermal management issues in laser diodes and discuss an additional approach to device cooling via substrate manipulation. This approach will involve neutron transmutation doping (NTD) to reconfigure the substrate properties.