Patent ID: 8391330

Claim:
A semiconductor laser comprising a laser chip mounted on a carrier substrate, wherein: the laser chip comprises one or more crystallographic functional regions and a waveguide extending along a longitudinal optical axis of propagation through the crystallographic functional regions of the laser chip; the laser chip further comprises a metallized surface comprising a metallization pattern formed over the crystallographic functional regions of the laser chip and extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal optical axis of the laser chip; the crystallographic functional regions of the laser chip are characterized by a lattice structure comprising a plurality of lattice planes that intersect the metallized surface of the laser chip; the metallization pattern comprises a plurality of longitudinally adjacent contact pads forming longitudinally adjacent pairs of contact pads; and opposing edges of the longitudinally adjacent pairs of contact pads face one another and are oriented to extend in a direction substantially non-parallel to the longitudinal optical axis and substantially non-orthogonal to the longitudinal optical axis and across a plurality of the lattice planes that intersect the metallized surface of the laser chip.