Semiconductor light-emitting device and method for manufacturing the same

A semiconductor laser comprising:

• an active layer that emits light by electric current injection, and
• n-type and p-type cladding layers made of materials having a larger band gap than said active layer and sandwiching said active layer from both sides thereof,
• wherein said active layer is made of CdxZn1−xO (0≦x<1), said cladding layers are made of MgyZn1−yO (0≦y<1), and an internal electric current constriction layer is built therein.

A semiconductor laser comprising:

• an active layer that emits light by electric current injection, and
• n-type and p-type cladding layers made of materials having a larger band gap than said active layer and sandwiching said active layer from both sides thereof,
• wherein said active layer is made of a quantum well structure constructed with a composition modification of CdxZn1−xO (0≦x<1), and a stress-alleviating layer is disposed on at least one side of said n-type cladding layer side and said p-type cladding layer side of said active layer so as to be in contact with said active layer, said stress-alleviating layer being made of MgwZn1−xO (0≦w<1) having a composition with approximately the same lattice constant as the composition located on the outermost side of said active layer on said at least one side.

A semiconductor light emitting device comprising:

• a sapphire substrate,
• a buffer layer made of an Al2O3 film disposed on said sapphire substrate, and
• a light emitting layer forming portion made of ZnO-based compound semiconductor disposed on said buffer layer, said light emitting layer forming portion including at least n-type and p-type layers to form a light emitting layer.

A semiconductor light emitting device comprising:

• a substrate, and
• a semiconductor laminate section disposed on said substrate and made of oxide compound semiconductor layers and including a light emitting layer forming portion,
• wherein an oxide thin film containing Zn is disposed as a buffer layer on a front surface of said substrate at a lower temperature than a temperature of growing semiconductor layers of said semiconductor laminate section and is interposed between said substrate and said semiconductor laminate section.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor light emitting device comprising the steps of:

• forming a non-crystalline or polycrystalline oxide thin film containing Zn on a substrate by a sputtering method, a vacuum vapor deposition method, or a laser ablation method,
• putting said substrate into an apparatus for epitaxial growth of semiconductor layers and raising a substrate temperature to a growth temperature, and
• laminating an oxide compound semiconductor layer to form a light emitting layer forming portion.

A semiconductor light emitting device comprising:

• a substrate, and
• a semiconductor laminate section including a light emitting layer forming portion made of compound semiconductor layers disposed on said substrate and having n-type and p-type layers to form a light emitting layer,
• wherein a buffer layer is disposed between said substrate and said semiconductor laminate section, said buffer layer being made of a material having a thermal expansion coefficient larger than the thermal expansion coefficient of an epitaxial growth layer at the lowermost layer of said semiconductor laminate section and smaller than the thermal expansion coefficient of said substrate.

A ZnO-based compound semiconductor light emitting device comprising:

• a substrate;
• and
• a light emitting layer forming portion disposed on said substrate and forming a light emitting layer by lamination of ZnO-based compound semiconductor having at least an n-type layer, wherein an n-side electrode disposed in contact with said n-type layer of said ZnO-based compound semiconductor is formed so that a portion of said n-side electrode which is in contact with said n-type layer is formed of Ti or Cr, said portion not containing Al.

A semiconductor light emitting device comprising:

• a substrate, and
• a light emitting layer forming portion made of ZnO-based compound semiconductor layers disposed on said substrate and forming a light emitting layer with an n-type layer and a p-type layer, wherein said p-type layer contains an element capable of becoming an n-type dopant as a buffering agent.

A ZnO-based compound semiconductor light emitting device comprising:

• a substrate, and
• a light emitting layer forming portion that forms a light emitting layer by lamination of a ZnO-based compound semiconductor layer disposed on said substrate,
• wherein said ZnO-based compound semiconductor layer contains C element.

An oxide compound semiconductor light emitting diode comprising:

• an n-type layer made of an n-type ZnO-based compound semiconductor,
• an i-layer made of a semi-insulating ZnO-based compound semiconductor, and
• an electrically conductive layer disposed on a front surface of said i-layer.

An oxide compound semiconductor light emitting diode comprising:

• an n-type layer made of an n-type ZnO-based compound semiconductor,
• a doped layer in which a ZnO-based compound semiconductor layer is doped with at least one kind of element selected from the group consisting of Group IA, Group IB, and Group VB elements, and
• an electrically conductive layer disposed on a front surface of said doped layer.