Patent ID: 7482635

Claim:
A gallium nitride compound semiconductor multilayer structure comprising: a substrate, and an n-type layer, a light-emitting layer, and a p-type layer formed on the substrate, the light-emitting layer having a multiple quantum well structure in which a well layer and a barrier layer are alternately stacked repeatedly, said light-emitting layer being sandwiched by the n-type layer and the p-type layer, wherein the well layer comprises a thick portion and a thin portion, the thick portion has a thickness of 1.5 nm to 5 nm, the thin portion has a thickness of less than 1.5 nm, the thick portion has an arithmetic mean width, as measured in a cross-section of the multilayer structure, of 10 nm or more, the thin portion has an arithmetic mean width, as measured in a cross-section of the multilayer structure, of 100 nm or less, the thin portion having a thickness of 0 nm accounts for 10% or less of an entire area of the well layer, and the barrier layer contains a dopant.