Patent ID: 7145237

Claim:
An electrode employing a nitride-based semiconductor of III–V group compound, comprising: a nitride-based semiconductor layer of III–V group compound; an electrode metal; a metal oxide inserted between said nitride-based semiconductor layer of III–V group compound and said electrode metal; and a nitride semiconductor intermediate layer doped with oxygen, said nitride semiconductor intermediate layer formed during a heating process from said metal oxide and said nitride-based semiconductor layer of III–V group compound between said electrode metal and the underlying nitride based semiconductor layer of III–V group compound, wherein the metal of said metal oxide includes at least one of lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and lutetium (Lu).