Patent ID: 7833695

Claim:
A method of fabricating a metal contact structure for a laser diode comprising: providing a UV transparent semiconductor substrate, a UV transparent semiconductor epilayer defining an epilayer ridge disposed between etched epilayer edges, the epilayer being disposed over the UV transparent semiconductor substrate, and a UV opaque metal layer disposed over the epilayer ridge; applying at least one positive photoresist layer over the UV opaque metal layer and epilayer edges; selectively developing the regions of the positive photoresist layer disposed over the epilayer edges by backside exposure to UV light, the UV light being first delivered through the bottom surface of the UV transparent semiconductor substrate, wherein the UV opaque metal layer prevents regions of the positive photoresist layer disposed over the UV opaque metal from exposure to UV light thereby the photoresist regions over the UV opaque metal layer are undeveloped; removing the developed photoresist regions over the epilayer edges; applying a dielectric layer over the undeveloped photoresist regions, and the epilayer edges; removing the undeveloped photoresist regions and the portion of the dielectric layer disposed over the undeveloped photoresist regions; and forming the metal contact structure of the laser diode by applying a metal layer over the dielectric layer and the UV opaque metal layer.