Semiconductor light-emitting device, lighting apparatus, and lighting unit for vehicles

1. A semiconductor light-emitting device comprising a substrate and a plurality of semiconductor light-emitting layers of a predetermined shape disposed in a row on the substrate, wherein:

the semiconductor light-emitting layers have such a structure that a distribution of a light emission amount of a light-emitting surface of each semiconductor light-emitting layer declines from a side of one predetermined end toward a side of the other end in a direction of the row,

the plurality of the semiconductor light-emitting layers each have one or more laminated semiconductor layers and a plurality of via electrodes that penetrate at least one of the one or more semiconductor layers and supply an electric current to the semiconductor layers, the light-emitting surfaces of the plurality of the semiconductor light-emitting layers being upper surfaces thereof or surfaces thereof on a side of the substrate,

a density of the plurality of the via electrodes in each of the semiconductor light-emitting layers is, compared with a region on the side of the one predetermined end, lower in a region on the side of the other end in the direction of the row of the light-emitting surfaces, and

wherein the maximum density of the via electrodes in a semiconductor light-emitting layer on the side of the one predetermined end in the direction of the row is larger than the maximum density of the via electrodes in a semiconductor light-emitting layer on the side of the other end among the plurality of the semiconductor light-emitting layers.

2. The semiconductor light-emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor light-emitting layers have such a structure that the light emission amount of the light-emitting surface of each semiconductor light-emitting layer is larger in two end parts than in a center part in a direction perpendicular to the row direction.

3. The semiconductor light-emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein a fluorescent substance layer is disposed on each of the light-emitting surfaces of the semiconductor light-emitting layers.

4. The semiconductor light-emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein the density of the via electrodes in each of the semiconductor light-emitting layers is larger in two end regions compared with a center region in a direction perpendicular to the row direction.

5. The semiconductor light-emitting device according to claim 1 , wherein an area of a semiconductor light-emitting layer nearer to the other end of the row is larger among areas of the plurality of the semiconductor light-emitting layers.

6. The semiconductor light-emitting device according to claim 1 , further comprising a wiring that can supply an electric current to the plurality of semiconductor light-emitting layers in series, or individually to each of the semiconductor light-emitting layers.

7. A lighting apparatus having a sheet light source comprising a plurality of the semiconductor light-emitting devices according to claim 1 disposed at least in a direction perpendicular to the row direction, and a lens for projecting light emitted by the sheet light source.

8. A lighting unit for vehicles having the lighting apparatus according to claim 7 , a drive circuit that drives the respective semiconductor light-emitting devices of the lighting apparatus for lighting, a light projection range-setting part that processes an image captured by a camera and sets a light projection range and light intensity distribution thereof, and a controller, wherein:

the controller controls the drive circuit so that only the semiconductor light-emitting devices corresponding to the range set by the light projection range-setting part emit light in light emission amounts corresponding to the light intensity distribution.