Patent ID: 7006544

Claim:
A plane emission type semiconductor laser device comprising a lower reflector, a light emission layer, and an upper reflector having a current confinement layer, wherein said plane emission type semiconductor laser device is formed on a stepped substrate comprising an upper level portion, a step portion, and a lower level portion lower than said upper level portion and surrounding said upper level portion with said step portion therebetween, said current confinement layer comprises, on the upper side of said upper level portion of said stepped substrate, a current injection region comprised of an unoxidized high-Al-content layer having substantially the same shape as the plan-view shape of said upper level portion and substantially the same size as the size of said upper level portion, said current confinement layer comprises, as a current confinement region, an annular Al oxide layer obtained by oxidizing the high-Al-content layer around said current injection region, and said high-Al-content layer is doped with an n-type impurity in an impurity concentration of 1×10 17 to 1×10 18 cm −3 .