Patent attributes
An optical semiconductor device includes: a waveguide structure including layers grown over a semiconductor substrate, having a width defined by sidewalls formed by etching the layers, and including a wide, a narrow, and an intermediate width portion, formed along a propagation direction; and a diffraction grating formed on the sidewalls of at least one of the wide and narrow width portions of the waveguide structure, the diffraction grating having vertical grooves periodically disposed along the propagation direction and defining a wavelength of propagation light, wherein the narrow width portion is formed in such a manner that a loss of 50% or more is given to a higher order transverse mode. An optical semiconductor device having a vertical diffraction grating is provided which can suppress generation of a higher order transverse mode and an increase in a device resistance.