The nitride compound semiconductor vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser of the present invention is characterized in that it includes aperture comprised of a tunnel junction region which is fabricated with a p-type nitride compound semiconductor layer (doping concentration of p-type nitride compound semiconductor layer (doping concentration of p-type dopants: 5x10?18 1x1021) cm-3¿ and a n-type nitride compound semiconductor layer (doping concentration of n-type dopants: 5x10?18 1x1021cm-3¿). In the present invention, a mesa-structured tunnel junction layer that is buried in an eptaxial nitride compound semiconductor layer is used as the current aperture. Therefore, both upper and lower ohmic metal electrodes can be formed on the surface of the n-type nitride compound semiconductor. In this case, current can be uniformly injected over the entire current aperture surface since n-type nitride compound semiconductor has a higher electrical conductivity than p-type nitride compound semiconductor. In summary, the problems in the prior art can be solved by employing tunnel junctions to induce uniform current spreading.
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