Patent ID: 8218596

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser comprising the steps of: forming, on a semiconductor substrate, a lower multilayer film reflecting mirror by alternately laminating a low-refractive index layer with a high Al (aluminum) composition and a high-refractive index layer with a low Al composition and making at least one of the plurality of low-refractive index layers into an oxidation inhibition layer containing Al having an Al composition ratio smaller than an Al composition ratio of other layers in the plurality of low-refractive index layers, forming, on the lower multilayer film reflecting mirror, a lower cladding layer, an active layer, an upper cladding layer, and an upper multilayer film reflecting mirror in this order and forming an oxidized layer above the lower multilayer film reflecting mirror, thereby forming a laminated structure; forming a columnar mesa by selectively etching the laminated structure in a region at least from the top face of the laminated structure to the bottom face of a layer immediately above the lower multilayer film reflecting mirror and forming a non-flat face in which an end face of at least one of the oxidation inhibition layers is exposed in a base of the mesa in the lower multilayer film reflecting mirror; and selectively oxidizing the oxidized layer from a side face of the mesa by oxidation treatment.