Due to their high electrical-optical conversion efficiency, compact size and long lifetime, high power diode lasers have found increased applications in many fields. As the improvement of device technology, high power diode laser bars with output power of tens or hundreds watts have been commercially available. With the increase of high current and output power, the reliability and lifetime of high power diode laser bars becomes a challenge, especially under harsh working conditions and hard-pulse operations. The bonding technology is still one of the bottlenecks of the advancement of high power diode laser bars. Currently, materials used in bonding high power diode laser bars are commonly indium and goldtin solders. Experimental and field application results indicates that the lifetime and reliability of high power diode laser bars bonded by gold-tin solder is much better than that bonded by indium solder which is prone to thermal fatigue, electro-migration and oxidization. In this paper, we review the bonding technologies for high power diode laser bars and present the advances in bonding technology for single bars, horizontal bar arrays and vertical bar stacks. We will also present the challenges and issues in bonding technology for high power diode laser bars and discuss some approaches and strategies in addressing the challenges and issues.

Date Published: 20 February 2015
PDF: 21 pages
Proc. SPIE 9346, Components and Packaging for Laser Systems, 934605 (20 February 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2079619

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9346:
Components and Packaging for Laser Systems
Alexei L. Glebov; Paul O. Leisher, Editor(s)