GALLIUM NITRIDE SEMICONDUCTOR LASER ELEMENT AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING GALLIUM NITRIDE SEMICONDUCTOR LASER ELEMENT

摘要

Provided are: a gallium nitride semiconductor laser element which has reduced threshold current; and a method for manufacturing a gallium nitride semiconductor laser element. This gallium nitride semiconductor laser element is provided with an n-type cladding layer (15b), an n-side light guide layer (29), an active layer (27), a p-side light guide layer (31) and a p-type cladding layer (23). The oscillation wavelength of the active layer (27) is from 400 nm to 550 nm (inclusive). The n-type cladding layer (15b) is formed of InxAlyGa1-x-yN (0 xAlyGa1-x-yN (0 = x < 0.05, 0 < y < 0.20). Both of the n-side light guide layer (29) and the p-side light guide layer (31) contain indium, and the indium compositions of the n-side light guide layer (29) and the p-side light guide layer (31) are from 2% to 6% (inclusive). The film thickness of the n-type cladding layer (15b) is within the range from 65% to 85% (inclusive) of the total of the film thickness of the n-type cladding layer (15b) and the film thickness of the p-type cladding layer (23).