Patent ID: 8829544

Claim:
A semiconductor light emitting device, comprising: a foundation layer having a first major surface and a second major surface on a side opposite to the first major surface, the foundation layer including a nitride semiconductor; a first semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type including a nitride semiconductor, the first semiconductor layer being stacked with the foundation layer along a stacking direction; a light emitting layer provided between the foundation layer and the first semiconductor layer, the light emitting layer including a nitride semiconductor; and a second semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type provided between the foundation layer and the light emitting layer, the second conductivity type being different from the first conductivity type, the second semiconductor layer including a nitride semiconductor, the first major surface facing the second semiconductor layer, the foundation layer having an unevenness provided on the second major surface, the unevenness having a recess, a side portion, and a protrusion, the first major surface having an overlay-region which overlays the recess when viewed along the stacking direction, the foundation layer having a plurality of dislocations, the dislocations including first dislocations whose one ends reaching the recess and second dislocations whose one ends reaching the protrusion, an another end of at least one of the second dislocations reaching the side portion without reaching the first major surface, a proportion of a number of the second dislocations reaching the first major surface to a number of all of the second dislocations being smaller than a proportion of a number of the first dislocations reaching the first major surface to a number of all of the first dislocations, and a number of the dislocations reaching the overlay-region of the first major surface being smaller than a number of all of the first dislocations.