Patent ID: 8811443

Claim:
A nitride semiconductor laser diode comprising: a substrate; an n-side nitride semiconductor layer containing an n-type impurity and disposed on the substrate; an active layer having a light emitting layer including In x Al y Ga 1-x-y N (0<x<1, 0≦y<1, and 0<x+y<1) and disposed on the n-side nitride semiconductor layer; and a p-side nitride semiconductor layer containing a p-type impurity and disposed on the active layer; wherein the lasing wavelength of the nitride semiconductor laser diode is 500 nm or greater, and a concentration distribution of the p-type impurity in a depth direction from the light emitting layer toward the surface of the p-side nitride semiconductor layer has a local maximum with the concentration of the p-type impurity of 5×10 18 cm −3 or greater in a range within 300 nm from the top surface of the light emitting layer which is closest to the p-side nitride semiconductor layer, and after passing the local maximum, the concentration of the p-type impurity is not less than 6×10 17 cm −3 in the range within 300 nm.