Reliability of high performance 9xx-nm single emitter laser diodes

Abstract

This paper presents reliable high power and high brightness 9xx-nm single emitter laser diodes, which have been designed for various multi-emitter fiber-coupled modules. Diode lasers from legend generation have been life-tested with currents up to 14A at heat-sink and junction temperatures of 50°C and 80°C respectively, and have accumulated more than 15,000 hours of life-test duration. In order to further improve reliable operational power and optimize beam quality, new generation devices have been developed. The new devices demonstrated more than 20W CW rollover power without catastrophic optical mirror damage (COMD). Near-field/far-field patterns have also been improved significantly. In addition to step-stress life-tests, a 7-level multi-cell life-test was designed to investigate acceleration factors relative to the operation conditions. Junction temperatures ranging from 60°C to 110°C and current from 14A to 18A were used in this multi-cell life-test. The ongoing multi-cell life-test has accumulated 1.3 million raw device hours and shown very few device failures in up to 7000 hours duration. Such a low failure rate doesn't allow a meaningful estimation of acceleration factors. When nominal acceleration factors are used, multi-cell life-test data supports ~500 FIT, with 90% confidence, at 10W, 33°C/50°C heat-sink/junction temperatures.