Patent ID: 8193019

Claim:
A method of fabricating a VCSEL comprising: forming an essentially undoped bottom mirror on a substrate wherein forming a bottom mirror comprises forming alternating layers of materials with different indices of refraction; forming a first conduction layer region on the bottom mirror, wherein forming the first conduction layer region comprises doping portions of the first conduction layer region more heavily at a location where optoelectronic energy is at about a minimum when the VCSEL is in use; forming an active layer that contains quantum wells on the first conduction layer region; forming a second conduction layer region on the active layer, wherein forming a second conduction layer region comprises doping portions of the second conduction layer region more heavily at a location where the optoelectronic energy is at about a minimum when the VCSEL is in use; forming an epitaxial structure having an aperture, the epitaxial structure being formed above the quantum wells and below the second conduction layer region; forming a ramp layer positioned between the aperture and the second conduction layer region so as to have a ramp of aluminum in the ramp layer; forming a top mirror on the second conduction layer region such that the top mirror is essentially undoped and such that the top mirror forms a mesa structure; and forming an oxide layer around the mesa structure to protect the top mirror from a wet oxidation step.