Cutting Edge 2

A Laser Coupler for DVD/CD Playback
Using a Monolithic-integrated Two-wavelength Laser Diode
Kazuhiko Nemotoa) and Kazuo Miurab)a) Semiconductor Laser Division, Sony Corporation,
4-14-1 Asahi-cho, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa 243-0014, Japanb) Engineering Division, Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated,
1-1, Akasaka 7-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052, Japan

Abstract

1. Introduction

A new optical integrated device called a twowavelength-beam laser coupler (2BLC), which
has two-wavelength light emission/detection
functions, has been developed. By using a
2BLC, an ultimate solution of the optical pickup
head for the DVD/CD system is easily realized.
To simplify the structure and the fabrication of
the 2BLC, a new monolithic-integrated twowavelength laser diode, called a visible and infrared laser diode, has been developed, which
can be easily fabricated using only two stepsof metal organic chemical vapor deposition.

The DVD system is now being widely used in
playback optical disc systems, such as DVDvideo players and DVD-ROM drives. In the DVD
system, it is important that the optical pickupof the system can play back both DVD media
and CD media such as CD-DA, CD-ROM and
CD-R/RW. But the 650nm laser cannot be used
to play back CD-R media, because of their low
reflectivity of the 650nm laser. Therefore, theoptical pickup head of the DVD system requires
both a 650nm and a 780nm laser. Figure 1
shows some conventional solutions, which,however, require a large number of parts, making the optical pickup head complicated, difficult to assemble and expensive.

The newly developed 2BLC can be used invarious DVD/CD systems, now being used in
PlayStation 2.

Fig. 1. Conventional optical pickup systems with two-wavelength.

An optical pickup head, as shown in Fig. 2, is
one of the ultimate solutions, using a twowavelength-beam laser coupler (2BLC). It has
a two-wavelength light emission and detection
function. There are two approaches realizing
such an integrated device. One approach isusing two laser chips mounted in the same
package,1-3) but it is difficult to assure the accuracy of the emitting position, such as thespace and the parallelism between the two lasers. It is difficult to make integrated device sufficiently small  essentially the same size as
the conventional single-wavelength laser coupler. Another approach is using a monolithicintegrated two-wavelength laser chip,4-7) whichsolves both the problem of the accuracy of theemitting position and the device size.
Such a devise was reported in 1982 as a resultof work in optical-fiber communications.8,9) It
was simply fabricated by piling two kinds ofdouble-hetero structures. But, using thismethod, it is quite difficult to adopt a practicalwaveguide structure suitable for the opticalstorage systems because of the structural restriction, and also difficult to mount in junction-down configuration because of the large
step-height between two laser elements, so sufficiently good performances can not be obtained. On the other hand, it is easily considered to adopt two kinds of the conventional
waveguide structures, but it is usually complicated to fabricate, that is, for example, many
steps of the epitaxial growth and the epitaxial
growth on the structured uneven substrate areneeded. So it is quite difficult to obtain highyield of such devices practically, therefore, it isconsidered such devices not suitable for mass
production.
The original technologies of the gain-guiding
laser and the epitaxail growth on the structured
uneven substrate has been introduced, as aresult, a new monolithic-integrated two-wavelength laser diode has been developed, whichis easy to fabricate.6) It is called a visible and

JSAP International No.3 (January 2001)9

are positioned side by side on the GaAs substrate and are individually addressable. Bothelements have gain-guiding structures. A separated-confinement-heterostructure multi-quantum-well (SCH-MQW) structure is used for eachactive region to minimize the threshold current.
The waveguide stripe of the 650nm element isa mesa-shaped tapered stripe, which forms again-guiding cavity. For the 780nm-element,
the simplest and the most productive structure,
the tapered-stripe gain-guiding structure, isused, which is prepared using ion implantation.12,13) The length of the tapered-stripe is
170µm for both elements. The stripe width is
6.5µm at the center and 3.0µm at the facetedge for the 650nm element, and 8.0µm at
the center and 5.0µm at the facet edge for the
780nm element. The two elements are 120µm
apart. The cavity length of both elements is
400µm. The reflectivity of the front and rear
facets is 28% and 75%, respectively, for the
650nm element, and 32% and 75%, respectively, for the 780nm element. The reflectivityof the front facet is optimized for both elements.

Fig. 2. Ultimate optical pickup system with two-wavelength.

Fabrication process

Fig. 3. Schematic representation of the 2BLC.

infrared laser diode (VILD), which can be fabricated using only two steps of metal organic
chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Using a
VILD, a new laser coupler called the 2BLC has
been realized.4,5) In this article, the structure andthe features of the 2BLC are described, andthe prospect of this device is briefly touched,
as well.

2. Structure and features ofthe 2BLC
An optical integrated device called laser coupler (LC) has been developed and widely usedin commercially products for an optical pickup
head in CD system.10) This device integrates alaser diode, a photodetector IC (PDIC) chip anda micro-prism in a small package. Recently, thelaser coupler for MD system has been also developed and already used in commercially products.11)
The structure of the 2BLC was followed thedesign concept of these LCs. Figure 3 shows

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JSAP International No.3 (January 2001)

the schematic structure of the 2BLC,4,5) which
has a quite simple structure and is capable ofvery stable operation. The 2BLC is in a miniaturethin ceramic package 7.5mmx6.5mmx2.0mm,
which is essentially the same size as the LC for
CD and MD systems that are currently in mass
production. A VILD, a PDIC, a micro-prism anda quarter-wavelength-plate (QWP) are integrated in this package. The three distinctive
features of the 2BLC are:a. A monolithic-integrated two-wavelength
laser diode called a VILD is incorporated.
b. A QWP is integrated.
c. Two-wavelength signal-detection is performed
by a PDIC and a micro-prism.
The details are as follows.

a. A monolithic-integrated twowavelength laser diode (VILD)
Structure of the VILD
Figure 4 shows the schematic structure of the
VILD. A 780nm element and a 650nm element

Figure 5 is a schematic of the fabrication process of the VILD. First, the AlGaAs-SCH-MQW(5QWs) layers for the 780nm-laser elements,
consisting of n-GaAs, n-Al 0.47Ga 0.53As, theundoped active region, p-Al0.47Ga0.53As and pGaAs, were grown by first-step MOCVD on a(100)-10º off toward <011> n-GaAs substrate.
Then Zn diffusion was performed to obtain highZn concentration on the GaAs capping layer
surface. The AlGaAs epitaxial layers were thenpartially removed using conventional wet etching, to form the land-groove-shaped structure:
the land is the 780nm remaining layers and thegroove is the GaAs substrate surface. Thus, the780nm epitaxial islands parallel to the <01-1>
direction were prepared. Next, the AlGaInPSCH-MQW (6QWs) layers for the 650nm-lasere l e m e n t s , c o n s i s t i n g o f n - I n G a P, n In0.5(Al0.73Ga0.27)0.5As, the undoped active region, p-In0.5(Al0.73Ga0.27)0.5As, p-InGaP and pGaAs, were grown by second-step MOCVD on
the land-groove substrate. Then the unnecessary regions  the AlGaInP epitaxial layers on
the AlGaAs islands  were selectively removed
using conventional wet etching. Thus, the650nm epitaxial islands parallel to the <01-1>
direction were prepared. In this way, the 650nm
epitaxial islands and the 780nm epitaxial islands
were positioned side by side on the common
GaAs substrate and the individually addressable

Cutting Edge 2

structure was formed very simply.
The waveguide stripes were formed by onestep photolithography, so the stripes for the
650nm-laser elements and the 780nm-laser
elements precisely positioned. Wet etching wasthen used to form the 650nm stripe, then ion
implantation was used to form the 780nm
stripe. An extremely high accuracy of the emitting position between the 650nm and the
780nm element was obtained. In the etchingprocess for forming the 650nm stripe, the pcap layer was removed at the side of the 650nm
stripe, so ohmic contact was formed only on
the 650nm stripe and a Schottky barrier wasformed at the side of the stripe after the electrode metals were evaporated. The ion-implantation depth at the side of the 780nm stripe isa little deeper than the cap-layer thickness. As
the ion-implantation area had high resistivity,
ohmic contact was obtained only on the stripe
after evaporating the electrode metals. Finally,
after cleaving and facet coating, a pelletizedlaser chip was mounted on the Si-submount,which has a monitor photo-diode for automatic
power control (APC), in a junction-down configuration using Sn solder. The Sn soldering
pattern on the submount is separated into twoareas, which correspond to the electrode of the
650nm element and that of the 780nm element, for individual addressing.

Fig. 4. (a) Schematic representation of the VILD. (b) Schematic structure of each active region.

Characteristics
Figure 6 shows typical laser characteristics forthe 650nm element and the 780nm element
under CW operation at room temperature. Bothelements showed fundamental transverse
mode operation, which was very stable becauseof the tapered-stripe structure. The lasing spectrum of the 780nm element showed multimode lasing and narrow linewidth of each longitudinal mode, typical characteristics for thetapered-stripe gain-guiding laser diode used in
the CD system. The lasing spectrum of the
650nm element also showed multi-mode lasing and linewidth broadening of each longitudinal mode. It is considered that the taperedstripe structure enhances saturable absorbingin the AlGaInP active layers, so self-pulsation
occurs.
The relative intensity noise (RIN) characteristics of a 650nm and a 780nm element were
estimated under optical feedback of 1%
with a short optical path length of 35mm, up
to 70ºC. The RIN characteristics of both elements were below -130dB/Hz up to 70ºC
without high-frequency superposition circuits, which were low enough for practicalFig. 5. Schematic of the fabrication process of the VILDs.

JSAP International No.3 (January 2001)11

ement is extremely
good, so it is possible to achieve ahigh yield for thiselement. In fact,
the yield for the
VILD is almost thesame as that of
the conventional
single 650nm laser
diode.

b.The integrated QWP.
The 2BLC incorporates a newly developed QWP film
at the window of
the package formore stable operation of the optical pickup head.
The QWP was realized in low cost,because it is madeof plastic, which isput on the glass
plate for sealing.
The characteristic
Fig. 6. Laser characteristics: light output versus injection current curves, spectrum and farof the QWP is opfield patterns.
timized to the
650nm laser, so
use in the DVD/CD playback system.
the output laser beam from the 650nm eleFigure 7 shows the aging curves of the 650nm
ment of the 2BLC’s window is circularly polarelement and the 780nm element, at 6mW and
ized, as shown in Fig. 8. The circularly polar7mW, respectively, under CW operation at 70ºC.
ized beam is standard in the DVD system. BeGood aging characteristics were obtained forcause some media has birefringence, which
both elements. The reliability of the 780nm elsometimes destabilizes signals, that is, increases⊥⊥

jitter. Thus, the 2BLC is almost not affected byvariations in disc birefringence and it can implement a DVD/CD-drive with high playability.
Using a QWP has another advantage, because
it can minimize optical feedback noise. The VILD
chip we have developed is designed to be usedwithout high-frequency superposition circuits,
therefore, the optical feedback noise is usually
low enough so no other parts needs. But, some
VILDs show rather higher level of the opticalfeedback noise due to the variation of the performance of the optical feedback noise. Figure
9 shows the output laser power versus relative
intensity noise of a sample that is a little inferior to typical samples in optical feedback noisecharacteristics. Fig. 9(a) shows the RIN characteristics of the 650nm element. The RIN data
were improved by using a QWP, especially inthe low power range, up to 70ºC. Because thedirection of the linear polarization of the feedback light is rotated 90º, so the mode competition between the output laser light and thefeedback laser light is small, in fact almost thesame as with little optical feedback. The RIN
characteristics of the 780nm element are shownin Fig. 9(b). This QWP is optimized for the
650nm laser, so the polarization of the output
laser beam from the 780nm element is not perfectly circular, but a little elliptical. The rotationof the linear polarization of feedback light is alittle less than 90º, so the influence of the feedback light is a little larger than in the case of
the 650nm element. But, even this case, themode competition between the output laser
light and the feedback laser light is also verysmall, so the RIN data are improved by incorporating a QWP, especially in the low power
range, up to 70ºC.

c. Two-wavelength signal-detection

Fig. 7. Aging characteristics.

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In the 2BLC, various two-wavelength signaldetection functions are incorporated in one setof PDIC and micro-prism, which has a simple
structure and operates very stably. The 2BLC
includes a high-speed PDIC based on a newly
developed ultra-high-speed highly integrated
photo detector IC process and achieves a frequency bandwidth over 60MHz. This performance allows the 2BLC to support 6x-speed
DVD and 48x-speed CD playback.
There are two surfaces as beam splitters on the
micro-prism. A 45º-surface splits emission anddetection light, and a lower surface is for detecting the focus-error signal, as shown in Fig.
10. The reflectivity of both laser lights is almost
the same, and the reflectivity of both s- and ppolarized light is nearly the same. This design

Cutting Edge 2

ensures that the 2BLC is almost not affectedby variations in disc birefringence, so it can produce a DVD/CD-drive with higher playability.
Figure 10 shows the signal-detection functionsof the 2BLC. The playback signal and other systems can be switched between DVD and CD
modes. While the 2BLC uses differential spotsize detection as the focus-error signal-detection method for both DVD and CD, it uses differential phase detection for DVD and pushpull detection for CD as the tracking-error signal-detection method. For the DVD playback
mode, the PDIC uses a 2-stage gain switching
function which allows the 2BLC to support two
types of discs (single-layer and dual-layer discs)with the laser output level held fixed. Since a
fixed laser output can be used, laser operating
control is simplified and high stability is provided.

Fig. 8. Schematic of the polarization in the 2BLC.

3. Conclusion
A new optical integrated device called the
2BLC, which has two-wavelength light emission/detection functions, has been developed.
It has been especially designed for use in
PlayStation 2 with many hard requirements,
such as including two-wavelength functions in
one integrated-device, being of small size, having a low cost, being capable of being developed quickly and being produced on a large
scale. To develop the 2BLC, semiconductor laser division and game-product division havebeen closely collaborated each other, so an inclusive solution, thinking not only laser but alsosystem and mechanism of the deck, has beenable to be pursued. Therefore, the 2BLC has
been able to be realized very efficiently andsuccessfully.
Two different device concepts can be considered for 2BLC. One is using two laser chips,
and another is using a monolithic-integrated
two-wavelength laser chip called the VILD. Our
choice is using the VILD. Such a device is usually difficult to fabricate and its yield is low. But
by using a VILD it becomes much easier to realize a 2BLC than by using two laser chips. It istherefore important to solve the problems inproducing a VILD is essential in developing a
2BLC. A newly developed VILD completely
solves the problems, having very simple tapered-stripe gain-guiding structure and being
fabricated using a very simple process with only
two steps of MOCVD growth, almost the sameas the conventional single wavelength laser,which is really suitable for mass production.
In this way, the 2BLC has been successfully realized, which has superb performances. Good

Fig. 9. RIN characteristics of a sample whose optical feedback noise is higher, using or not using a QWP.

laser characteristics were obtained up to 70ºC.
The RIN characteristics were also good enoughup to 70ºC without high-frequency superposition circuits. In addition, by integrating a QWP
on the 2BLC, the 2BLC is almost not affectedby variations in disc birefringence and can havewider margin of the optical feedback noise
performance. Aging characteristics of the VILDs
were also good, therefore, the yield for the VILD
is almost the same as that of the conventional
single 650nm laser diode. Figure 11 shows reproducing signals of an optical storage systemusing a 2BLC. Good values of jitter were obtained for DVD readout and CD readout of
7~8% and 13~18ns, respectively.
Using the 2BLC, it allows the number of components required in a two-wavelength optical
pickup head to be reduced significantly, which
results in a reduction in the time required for
adjustment during assembly, increased reliability and other advantages. So, it contributes significantly to the implementation of simple lowcost optical pickup heads. The newly developed
VILD and 2BLC, which are the industry’s first

JSAP International No.3 (January 2001)

13

Cutting Edge 2

two-wavelength integrated devices, are being
now mass-produced for PlayStation 2. Then,these devices will be widely used for the othervarious DVD-based products. A new variationof these devices, including the functions for recording to such as the CD-R/RW-media, will bealso developed in near future. Thus, it is expectedthat these devices will widely contribute to realizing productive optical storage systems.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Masaki
Shiozaki, Hiroki Nagasaki, Makoto Futatsugi,
Kenji Nagashima, Takafumi Kamei, Hiroaki Abe,
Daisuke Imanishi, Hironobu Narui, Shoji Hirata
and Osamu Kumagai for their helpful advice
and their support.

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Fig. 10. Signal detection functions of the 2BLC.

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Fig. 11 Reproducing signals from DVD and CD disc.

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