Patent ID: 8111727

Claim:
A high current semiconductor opto-electronic device including a semiconductor body having an active region with opposite end sections and front and back facets terminating said end sections, and an electrical contact assembly comprising an electrode metallization layer extending over at least part of said semiconductor body for injecting carriers into said active region, and an isolation layer extending over part of said semiconductor body to define fully insulated and non-insulated regions of said electrical contact assembly so as to limit said injection of carriers from said electrode metallization layer into said active region at least one of said end sections, an edge region of said isolation layer between said fully insulated and non-insulated regions of said electrical contact assembly being patterned to define a current transition region between said fully insulating and non-insulating regions in which said semiconductor body is covered only partially by said isolation layer and in which the total length of one or more edges of said isolation layer at which the injection of carriers into said active region occurs is increased by the patterning to provide an injection current gradient in said current transition region that is significantly less abrupt than would be provided by a single step edge region in place of said patterned edge region.