Patent ID: 7672350

Claim:
A semiconductor device comprising: a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) device comprising at least a first distributed Bragg reflector (DBR), a second DBR, a multi-quantum well (MQW) and current confinement region, and a substrate, the MQW and current confinement region being between the first and second DBRs and providing an active cavity in the semiconductor device in which electrons are converted into photons to produce light, at least some of the light produced in the active cavity being emitted as laser light from the semiconductor device, the laser light emitted from the semiconductor device having a maximum modulation bandwidth; and an optical feedback structure comprising at least a third DBR and an optical spacer, the optical spacer being between the first DBR and the third DBR, the optical spacer providing a passive cavity in the semiconductor device, and wherein at least some of the light that is produced in the active cavity passes through the first DBR into the optical spacer of the optical feedback structure, the optical feedback structure providing optical feedback to the VCSEL device that results in an increase in the maximum modulation bandwidth of the light emitted from the semiconductor device, wherein the optical feedback structure is between the substrate and the VCSEL device such that the first DBR is adjacent the optical spacer and the third DBR is adjacent the substrate, and wherein at least a portion of the light that passes through the first DBR into the optical spacer is encountered by the third DBR, the third DBR reflecting substantially all of the light encountered thereby, and wherein the laser light emitted from the semiconductor device is light that passes through the second DBR moving in a direction away from the active channel.