Nitride semiconductor laser device

Abstract

To prevent deterioration induced by wire bonding in a laser device incorporating a semiconductor laser element having a nitride semiconductor laid on top of a nitride semiconductor substrate, the position at which a wire () is bonded to an electrode () formed on the top surface of a semiconductor layered structure is located off the area right above a dislocation (crystal defect)-concentrated region (X) of the substrate. Concentration of dislocations in the substrate spreads to the layered structure, producing a dislocation-concentrated region in the part of the layered structure located right above the dislocation-concentrated region of the substrate. If a wire is bonded above this region, the pressure applied when the wire is bonded causes the metal of which the electrode is made to diffuse along the concentrated dislocations, lowering the quality of the layered structure and thus resulting in deterioration of the element. Bonding a wire elsewhere than above the dislocation-concentrated region (X) helps prevent such deterioration.