NEC's blue laser hits 300mW output power
As semiconductor manufacturers look towards volume production of blue lasers for next-generation DVD applications, NEC researchers have developed a powerful GaN source that ought to boost the writing speed of rewritable drives based on the technology.
Developed at the Japanese company s System Device Research Laboratories, the 405 nm laser emits a world-record 300 mW in continuous-wave mode.
Fabricated using NEC s proprietary technology, the laser diode features a planar structure with a buried AlN inner stripe. The structure is grown using "multiple epitaxy technology", the research team told Compoundsemiconductor.net.
With a threshold current of 35 mA, the output power of the laser reaches around 200 mW at a drive current of 150 mA.
NEC demonstrated the laser at the recent CEATEC Japan 2004 technology exhibition, at which several companies from both the Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD industry groups showed off their next-generation DVD technology.
Its subsidiary NEC Compound Semiconductor Devices will have a prototype laser ready for sampling to customers in 2005, and volume manufacturing will take place at the company s Kansai plant in Otsu, Japan.
