| abstract |
The source comprises a heavily doped contact layer (18) partially covered by an alloy metal layer (20) forming ohmic contact, and a metal layer (24) covering said alloy layer as well as the rest of the second semiconductor layer, this metal layer being connected to a current source (28), and in addition, the semiconductor constituting the second layer (16) is chosen from those which form a Schottky diode in contact with a metal such as that of the metallic layer (20), this diode being reverse biased under normal operating conditions of the source, the area where the injection of charges is thus limited to the single ohmic contact area to the exclusion of areas where a Schottky diode is present. Application to lasers. |