Surface activated bonding of GaAs and SiC wafers at room temperature for improved heat dissipation in high-power semiconductor lasers

Abstract

Thermal management of high-power semiconductor lasers is of great importance since the output power and beam quality are affected by the temperature rise of the gain region. Thermal simulations of a vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser by a finite-element method showed that the solder layer between the semiconductor thin film consisting of the gain region and a heat sink has a strong influence on the thermal resistance and direct bonding is preferred to achieve effective heat dissipation. To realize thin-film semiconductor lasers directly bonded on a high-thermal-conductivity substrate, surface-activated bonding using an argon fast atom beam was applied to the bonding of gallium arsenide (GaAs) and silicon carbide (SiC) wafers. The GaAs/SiC structure was demonstrated in the wafer scale (2 in. in diameter) at room temperature. The cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy observations showed that void-free bonding interfaces were achieved.