Patent ID: 7675954

Claim:
A semiconductor laser device comprising: a semiconductor chip including a semiconductor substrate, semiconductor cladding layers, a semiconductor active layer, and a semiconductor contact layer, laminated on the substrate, wherein part of the semiconductor substrate, the semiconductor cladding layers, the semiconductor active layer, and semiconductor contact layer constitute a semiconductor laser having front and rear end faces, transverse to the semiconductor cladding layers and the semiconductor active layer, and light generated within the semiconductor layer principally exits through the front end face; a plurality of electrically insulating films stacked on a top external face of the semiconductor chip, wherein the electrically insulating films are farther from the semiconductor substrate than is the semiconductor contact layer, and at least one of the plurality of insulating films has, in a plan view of the top external face of the semiconductor chip, a polygonal shape with at least five apexes, each of the apexes having an interior angle larger than 90 degrees and smaller than 180 degrees; and a metal film disposed on and in contact with the electrically insulating film farthest from the top external face of the semiconductor chip, wherein the metal film has an area smaller than the area of the electrically insulating film farthest from the top external face of the semiconductor chip, and a polygonal shape with apexes, each of the apexes having an interior angle larger than 90 degrees, and the polygonal shapes of the at least one of the plurality of insulating films and the metal film have the same number of sides and apexes and are substantially coaxial.