Patent ID: 8415188

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a nitride semiconductor laser element comprising: (a) forming a nitride semiconductor layer on a substrate; (b) forming a ridge on a surface of the nitride semiconductor; (c) forming a first protective film on the nitride semiconductor layer including the ridge; (d) removing the first protective film from at least a top face of the ridge; (e) forming a conductive layer composed of a two or more of multilayer film with different compositions on the first protective film and the nitride semiconductor layer including the ridge, and introducing a plurality of gaps at locations of at least at the uppermost conductive layer corresponding to the base portion from the ridge shoulders; and (f) removing part of the lowermost layer of the conductive layer, which is located on a part of the first protective film formed on a side face of the ridge, through the gaps to form a void defined by the first protective film and the conductive layer so that at least a part of a surface of the first protective film extending substantially parallel to the side face of the ridge is exposed to the void.