Patent ID: 7160748

Claim:
A method for fabricating a nitride semiconductor device comprising the steps of: (1) growing an active layer made of a first nitride semiconductor on a substrate; (2) growing a p-type cap layer made of a second nitride semiconductor on the active layer for protecting the active layer; (3) growing a p-type cladding layer made of a third nitride semiconductor on the p-type cap layer; and (4) growing a p-type contact layer lade of a fourth nitride semiconductor on the p-type cladding layer, wherein at least one of the steps (2), (3), and (4) includes the steps of: growing one layer made of a first group III nitride by supplying a first group III source and a group V source containing nitrogen; and growing another layer made of a second group III nitride on the one layer by supplying a second group III source of a plurality of group III elements and a group V source containing nitrogen, wherein at least one of the step of growing one layer and the step of growing another layer includes the step of supplying a p-type dopant to the substrate before the growth of the group III nitride layer begins such that an area near the interface between the one layer and the another layer is grown so that the density of the p-type dopant locally increases to a peak in the another layer at a position adjacent the interface.