Patent ID: 6943875

Claim:
A method of testing a bottom-emitting VCSEL array at an intermediate stage of its manufacture, the VCSEL array including VCSELs each having a cavity resonator formed by a relatively low reflectivity frontside reflector and a relatively higher reflectivity backside reflector, comprising the steps of: aligning a probe with said VCSEL array, said probe including a first array of electronic circuits coupled to one side of said VCSEL array and to each of said VCSELs for causing said VCSELs to emit radiation and including a second array of photodetection circuits, including photodetectors coupled to an opposite side of said VCSEL array and to each of said VCSELs for detecting radiation emitted through each of said frontside reflectors, without performing another act of aligning said probe, determining from said detected frontside radiation whether a selected quality of each VCSEL meets a predetermined specification, said determining step including energizing said electronic and photodetection circuits in a fashion to reduce cross-talk between VCSELs and each photodetector, and then for those VCSEL arrays that meet specification, finishing their manufacture in a configuration designed to use radiation emitted from said frontside reflectors.