Patent ID: 8158994

Claim:
A GaN-based LED element comprising: a semiconductor laminate composed of a plurality of GaN-based semiconductor layers, the semiconductor laminate including a p-type layer, a light emitting layer arranged on a side of one surface of the p-type layer, and an n-type layer arranged so as to sandwich the light emitting layer between the p-type layer and the n-type layer; a light-transmissive conductive oxide film formed on another surface of the p-type layer; and a positive pad electrode formed on the light-transmissive conductive oxide film, wherein the light-transmissive conductive oxide film includes a first conductive film and a second conductive film electrically connected to the first conductive film, wherein the light-transmissive conductive oxide film has, in a part in contact with the p-type layer, a first contact portion which is a part of the first conductive film and a second contact portion which is a part of the second conductive film, wherein at least a part of the positive pad electrode is formed on the second contact portion, wherein a current supplied from the light-transmissive conductive oxide film to the p-type layer flows to the p-type layer mainly through the first contact portion, wherein the GaN-based LED element has an unevenness artificially formed in a surface of the light-transmissive conductive oxide film in a region not covered by the positive pad electrode, wherein the light-transmissive conductive oxide film has a multilayer structure part composed of a plurality of films including the first conductive film, on an interface between the first contact portion and the p-type layer, such that the unevenness is formed in the surface of the multilayer structure part, wherein the multilayer structure part includes the second conductive film, and wherein a part of the second conductive film formed on the first conductive film has a dot-shaped, stripe-shaped, or net-shaped pattern to serve as a convex part.