LIGHT-EMITTING ELEMENT, SELF-SCANNING LIGHT-EMITTING ELEMENT ARRAY, OPTICAL WRITING HEAD, AND IMAGE FORMATION DEVICE

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a light-emitting array that attains both high output of a light-emitting-part thyristor and reduction in a threshold voltage.SOLUTION: A light-emitting element includes a plurality of lands Sincluding at least a current constriction layer 30 and a pnpn semiconductor layer on a p-type GaAs semiconductor substrate 20. Each island includes a light-emitting-part thyristor having a pnpn structure, a shift-part thyristor, and a coupling diode. Rectangular-shaped grooves 50A and 50B extending from side surfaces 60 and 62 toward the inside are formed between a region in which the shift-part thyristor is formed and a region in which the light-emitting-part thyristor is formed of each island. The grooves 50A and 50B have a depth reaching at least the current constriction layer. The current constriction layer of the light-emitting-part thyristor includes conductive regions 30L and 30T surrounded by an oxide region 30A selectively oxidized from the side surfaces 60 and 62 of the island and side surfaces of the grooves 50A and 50B.