Patent ID: 8059691

Claim:
A nitride semiconductor laser device, comprising: a nitride semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type, an active layer of a nitride semiconductor, a nitride semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type, and an electrode pad for the second conductivity type stacked in this order on a main surface of a conductive substrate, wherein a stripe-like waveguide structure is formed so as to be parallel to said active layer, said electrode pad is disposed completely on said nitride semiconductor layer of the second conductivity type while covering less than an entire upper surface of said nitride semiconductor layer of the second conductivity type, and an area of said electrode pad for the second conductivity type is more than 2% and less than 60% of an area of the entire upper surface of said nitride semiconductor layer of the second conductivity type, wherein a metal layer of less than 0.1 Î¼m thickness is present on an upper surface of said nitride semiconductor layer of the second conductivity type in an area not having said electrode pad for the second conductivity type.