Procedure for evaluation of thermal management requirements in a laser diode structure

• Published in: Microelectronics and reliability 1997-12, Vol.37 (12), p.1817-1823
• Main Authors: Kamath, Rajesh R., Mead, Patricia F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Testing, measurement, noise and reliability
• ISSN: 0026-2714; 1872-941X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0026-2714(96)00278-8

Temperature is either a direct catalyst or a precipitating factor in several common laser diode degradation mechanisms including dark-line defects, catastrophic optical destruction, metal diffusion and electrode delamination. This strong correlation between device temperature and performance degradation demonstrates the need for an efficient thermal management strategy. We have adopted a commonly used heat generation model to perform a finite element analysis to compute steady-state and transient thermal profiles for a laser diode structure. The flexibility of the FE model is utilized in performing a parametric study of selected variables affecting temperature in the structure. Taguchi principles are used in the set-up and analysis of this model, and quantitative correlations between the selected variables and temperature are derived. The combined interaction expression is then modeled as an optimization function that may be applied in thermal management analysis. The approach demonstrated here conforms to a general methodology for the development of physics of failure models for degradation in optoelectronic devices.