Patent ID: 7760785

Claim:
A Group III nitride semiconductor laser diode on a Group III nitride semiconductor substrate, comprising: an InGaN-well based light-emitting layer; a Mg-doped p-type GaN guide layer; an AlN-based oxygen-containing current confinement layer overlying and in direct contact with an uppermost surface of said guide layer and comprising an opening; and a Mg-doped p-type AlGaN cladding layer formed on said guide layer and said current confinement layer so as to bury the opening, wherein said current confinement layer has a peak oxygen concentration of more than 8×10 18 /cm 3 , wherein said current confinement layer and a region of said cladding layer that overlies the current confinement layer have a dislocation density of at least 1×10 10 /cm 2 , wherein said current confinement layer and said region of said cladding layer that overlies the current confinement layer have a higher density of dislocations than the density of dislocations of a region of said guide layer and a region of the cladding layer that overlies the opening; and wherein an Al composition of said current confinement layer is higher than an Al composition of said guide layer and said cladding layer.