Patent ID: 8058660

Claim:
A semiconductor light emitting device comprising: an underlying layer on a major surface of a substrate having a {100} plane as the major surface; a light emitting part formed by sequential stacking of a first compound semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type, an active layer, and a second compound semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type above a top surface of the underlying layer; and a current block layer above a part of the major surface of the substrate on which the underlying layer is not formed and covering at least an exposed side surface of the active layer of the light emitting part, wherein, the underlying layer is composed of a III-V compound semiconductor and is formed on the major surface of the substrate by epitaxial growth, the underlying layer extends in parallel to a <110> direction of the substrate, a sectional shape of the underlying layer obtained when the underlying layer is cut along a virtual plane perpendicular to the <110> direction of the substrate is a trapezoid, oblique surfaces of the underlying layer corresponding to two oblique sides of the trapezoid are {111}B planes, and the top surface of the underlying layer corresponding to an upper side of the trapezoid is a {100} plane, and an energy band gap of a material of the underlying layer is larger than an energy band gap of a material of the first compound semiconductor layer.