GROUP III NITRIDE SEMICONDUCTOR OPTICAL ELEMENT

摘要

A group III nitride semiconductor optical element (11a) is provided with a group III nitride semiconductor substrate (13) having a main surface (13a) form a limited angle relative to a reference plane (Sc) perpendicular to a reference axis (Cx) extending along a c axis; and an active layer (17) having a quantum well structure that is provided on the main surface (13a) of the group III nitride semiconductor substrate (13), and that includes a well layer (28) comprising a group III nitride semiconductor as well as a plurality of barrier layers (29) comprising a group III nitride semiconductor; wherein the main surface (13a) exhibits semi-polarity; the active layer (17) has an oxygen concentration of at least 1 x 1017 cm-3 and at most 8 x 1017 cm-3; and the plurality of barrier layers (29) include an n-type impurity of other than oxygen at a concentration of at least 1 x 1017 cm-3 and at most 1 x 1019 cm-3 in a top near interface region (29u) in contact with a bottom interface (28Sd) of the group III nitride semiconductor substrate side of the well layer (28).