Design of high power VCSEL arrays

Holger Moench; Raimond Dumoulin; Stephan Gronenborn; Xi Gu; Gero Heusler; Johanna Kolb; Michael Miller; Pavel Pekarski; Jens Pollmann-Retsch; Armand Pruijmboom; Martin Stroesser

doi:10.1117/12.906654

Translator Disclaimer

7 February 2012 Design of high power VCSEL arrays

Holger Moench, Raimond Dumoulin, Stephan Gronenborn, Xi Gu, Gero Heusler, Johanna Kolb, Michael Miller, Pavel Pekarski, Jens Pollmann-Retsch, Armand Pruijmboom, Martin Stroesser

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8276, Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers XVI; 82760B (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.906654
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2012, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

High power VCSEL arrays can be used as a versatile illumination and heating source. They are widely scalable in power and offer a robust and economic solution for many new applications with moderate brightness requirements. The design of high power VCSEL arrays requires a concurrent consideration of mechanical, thermal, optical and electrical aspects. Especially the heat dissipation from the loss regions in the VCSEL mesas into the surrounding materials and finally towards the heat sink is discussed in detail using analytical and finite element calculations. Basic VCSEL properties can be separated from the calculation of thermal resistivity and only the latter depends on the details of array design. Guidelines are derived for shape, size and pitch of the VCSEL mesas in an array and optimized designs are presented. The electro-optical efficiency of the VCSELs and the material properties determine the operation point. A specific VCSEL design with the shape of elongated rectangles is discussed in more depth. The theoretical predictions are confirmed by measurements on practical modules of top-emitting structures as well as of bottom-emitting structures.

Citation Download Citation

Holger Moench, Raimond Dumoulin, Stephan Gronenborn, Xi Gu, Gero Heusler, Johanna Kolb, Michael Miller, Pavel Pekarski, Jens Pollmann-Retsch, Armand Pruijmboom, and Martin Stroesser "Design of high power VCSEL arrays", Proc. SPIE 8276, Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers XVI, 82760B (7 February 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.906654

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE