Patent ID: 7791085

Claim:
A semiconductor light emitting apparatus comprising: a first semiconductor laminate structure including a semiconductor light emitter having a light emitting region and a current confinement layer and comprised of an inner semiconductor material region having a maximum width or diameter surrounded by an insulating material; a second semiconductor laminate structure including a semiconductor light detector having a light absorbing layer for absorbing a part of the light output from said first semiconductor laminate structure and generating an electrical signal relative to an amount of light output; and an intermediate layer provided between the first and second semiconductor laminate structures, the intermediate layer comprising a metal reflecting part for preventing a portion of light emitted from said semiconductor light emitter from reaching said semiconductor light detector, the metal reflecting part including an opening defining a light transmitting part; wherein said first semiconductor laminate structure, said intermediate layer, and said second semiconductor laminate structure are integrally formed in a vertically stacked direction; and wherein at least a portion of the metal reflecting part is formed directly above or directly below at least a portion of each of the first and second semiconductor laminate structures and further wherein contact layers which are closest to the intermediate layer for the semiconductor light emitter and semiconductor light detector are formed in a layer that is separate from the intermediate layer, and further wherein said light transmitting part of said intermediate layer is comprised of an insulating material capable of transmitting the light emitted from said light emitting region and selected from the group consisting of SiN and SiO 2 .