Patent ID: 7078257

Claim:
A method of fabricating a surface emitting semiconductor laser comprising the steps of: forming a laser portion of semiconductor layers and at least two kinds of monitor-use semiconductor layers on a substrate, the laser portion including a first reflection mirror layer of a first conduction type, an active region, a III–V semiconductor layer containing A 1 and a second reflection mirror of a second conduction type, the at least two kinds of monitor-use semiconductor layers having oxidizable regions having different shapes; etching the laser portion so as to form a mesa on the substrate in which a side surface of the III–V semiconductor layer contained in the laser portion is exposed; starting oxidization of the III–V semiconductor layer from the side surface; monitoring a reflectance of each of the oxidizable regions of the at least two kinds of monitor-use semiconductor layers or its variation and obtaining, from results of monitoring, an oxidization terminating time at which oxidization of the III–V semiconductor layer in the laser portion should be terminated; and terminating oxidization of the III–V semiconductor layer at the oxidization terminating time to thus define an aperture that is a non-oxidized region of the III–V semiconductor layer.