Patent ID: 8183071

Claim:
A method for producing a nitride semiconductor optical device, comprising the steps of: growing a well layer on a gallium nitride-based semiconductor region having a semipolar main surface while a temperature in a growth furnace is maintained at a well-layer-growth temperature, the well layer constituting a part of an active layer; growing a protective layer that covers the main surface of the well layer immediately after the completion of the growth of the well layer; and growing a barrier layer on the main surface of the protective layer at a barrier-layer-growth temperature after the growth of the protective layer, the barrier layer constituting a part of the active layer wherein the thickness of the protective layer is smaller than the thickness of the barrier layer, the barrier-layer-growth temperature is equal to or higher than a first temperature that is higher than the well-layer-growth temperature, the growth of the barrier layer is initiated when the temperature in the growth furnace reaches the first temperature, the growth temperature of the protective layer is a temperature equal to or more than the well-layer-growth temperature, and less than the first temperature, the well layer is composed of an indium-containing gallium nitride-based semiconductor, the barrier layer is composed of a nitride semiconductor having a band gap energy larger than the band gap energy of the well layer, the protective layer is composed of a gallium nitride-based semiconductor having a band gap energy higher than the band gap energy of the well layer, the main surface of the well layer has a semipolar surface, the main surface of the protective layer has a semipolar surface, and the main surface of the barrier layer has a semipolar surface.