Flared and tapered rib waveguide semiconductor laser and method for making same

A semiconductor laser structure based upon a rib waveguide geometry which includes a uniform region and a flared and tapered region. The uniform region has a generally constant thickness and width. The flared tapered region gradually increases in width and decreases in thickness from the uniform region to a wide end. Fabrication is by selective area epitaxy with dielectric stripes in a dual stripe dielectric mask used to defined the two dimensional varying flare in the waveguide changing in thickness as a function of the flare width.