Patent ID: 7995634

Claim:
A nitride semiconductor laser element comprising: a semiconductor stacked structure including a semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type, an active layer and a semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type, which are stacked one upon the other and each comprises a nitride, wherein the semiconductor stacked structure defines, when viewed in plan, a quadrangle having four right angles and having a first edge, a second edge opposing the first edge, a third short edge and a fourth short edge opposing the third short edge; a striped waveguide region for a laser light provided on the semiconductor layer of the second conductivity type, wherein the striped wavequide region extends parallel to the first/second edges of the quadrangle; and an insulative region for reducing the capacitance of the element, wherein a pn-junction of the semiconductor layer at a peripheral region remote from the waveguide region is broken, forming the insulative region, wherein the insulative region defines a rectangle when viewed in plan, the rectangle having a first long edge extending parallel to a longitudinal direction of the striped wavequide region, a second long edge opposing the first long edge and positioned nearer to the striped wavequide region than the first long edge, a first short edge and a second short edge opposing the first short edge, with the first short edge being positioned nearer to the third short edge of the quadrangle than the second short edge, wherein the first long edge of the rectangle is remote from the first edge of the quadrangle, and the first and second short edges of the rectangle are remote from the third and fourth short edges of the quadrangle, respectively.