A method for manufacturing a laser diode device includes providing a substrate having a surface region and forming epitaxial material overlying the surface region, the epitaxial material comprising an n-type cladding region, an active region comprising at least one active layer overlying the n-type cladding region, and a p-type cladding region overlying the active layer region. The epitaxial material is patterned to form a plurality of dice, each of the dice corresponding to at least one laser device, characterized by a first pitch between a pair of dice, the first pitch being less than a design width. Each of the plurality of dice are transferred to a carrier wafer such that each pair of dice is configured with a second pitch between each pair of dice, the second pitch being larger than the first pitch.