Patent ID: 7838890

Claim:
An optical device comprising: a light emitting device section including, above a substrate, a first semiconductor section of a first conductivity type that functions as a first mirror, a second semiconductor section that functions as an active layer, and a third semiconductor section of a second conductivity type that functions as a second mirror, arranged in this order from a side of the substrate; a rectification device section including, above the substrate, a first support section composed of the same composition as that of the first semiconductor section, a second support section composed of the same composition as that of the second semiconductor section, a fourth semiconductor section of the second conductivity type, a fifth semiconductor section composed of a material having a greater etching rate than the fourth semiconductor section, a capacitance reducing section, and a sixth semiconductor section of the first conductivity type, which are arranged in this order from a side of the substrate; and first and second electrodes for driving the light emitting device section, wherein the fourth and sixth semiconductor sections are connected between the first and second electrodes in parallel with the light emitting device section to have a rectification action in a reverse direction with respect to the light emitting device section; a film thickness of the capacitance reducing section is greater than a film thickness of the fifth semiconductor section; the fifth semiconductor section has a greater difference in lattice constant with respect to the fourth semiconductor section than that of the capacitance reducing section; and the fifth semiconductor section is a single atom layer.