Patent ID: 6963530

Claim:
A near-field optical apparatus comprising a monolithic semiconductor substrate, said semiconductor substrate including at least one laser region, said semiconductor substrate including a slider region, said laser region integral to said slider region, said integral laser region and slider region defining a monolithic optical head, wherein the slider region is carried out by depositing an air bearing surface layer on a portion of said semiconductor substrate, wherein said monolithic semiconductor substrate further comprises: (a) a first conductivity-type semiconductor layer adjacent a first side of said semiconductor substrate; (b) an first conductivity-type distributed Bragg reflector mirror stack adjacent said first conductivity-type semiconductor layer; (c) a multiple quantum well active region layer adjacent said first conductivity-type distributed Bragg reflector mirror stack; (d) a second conductivity-type distributed Bragg reflector mirror stack adjacent said multiple quantum well active region layer; (e) an insulating layer adjacent said second conductivity-type distributed Bragg reflector mirror stack; and (f) a metal layer adjacent said insulating layer.