Patent ID: 6958493

Claim:
A semiconductor light emitting device comprising: a first nitride based Group III–V compound semiconductor layer; stripe-shaped masking films formed on the first nitride based Group III–V compound semiconductor layer so as to be repeated in a predetermined cycle in a width-wise direction thereof, each masking film comprising first width sections having a predetermined width and second width sections which are adjacent to both ends of each first width section and have a greater width than the predetermined width; a second nitride based Group III–V compound semiconductor layer which has been grown selectively from exposed parts of the first nitride based Group III–V compound semiconductor layer so as to cover the masking films and the exposed parts, each of the exposed parts being located between the masking films; and a semiconductor laser structure layered on the second nitride based Group III–V compound semiconductor layer, the semiconductor laser structure including an active layer which substantially extends in the length-wise direction of the masking films and level difference portions which extend in the width-wise direction by a structure in which a portion located above the second width sections is lower than a portion located above the first width sections.