ANALYSIS OF THERMAL-BEHAVIOR OF HIGH-POWER SEMICONDUCTOR-LASER ARRAYSBY MEANS OF THE FINITE-ELEMENT METHOD (FEM)

New results of steady-state two-dimensional finite-element computation s of temperature distributions of high power semiconductor laser array s are presented. The influence of different thermal loads on the 2D te mperature distribution in AlGaAs/GaAs gain-guided laser arrays is inve stigated. The FEM model is tested by comparing it with analytical solu tions. For numerical convenience, the latter is rewritten in a novel f orm, which is free of overflow problems. The maximum temperatures calc ulated by both methods agree within 1%. Several factors determining th e thermal resistance of the device are quantitatively examined: the ra tio of light emitting to non-emitting areas along the active zone, the amount of Joule losses, the current spreading, the solder thickness, and voids in the solder. This yields design rules for optimum thermal performance.