degradation occurs a material used as the uppermost layer capping layer of the transparent film electrode is preferably a metal exhibiting stability against oxidation and surface degradation good wire bonding and excellent transparency a representative example of this metal is au or ag in addition this metal may be at least one of ni co cu pd pt ru rh ir ta cr mn mo tc w re fe sc ti sn ge sb ag al ln and zn in particular an intermediate layer is preferably made of metals having a high work function value which is advantageous for forming an ohmic contact to the p type gan and capable of forming a ga based compound during heat treatment for example the metals may be at least one of ni co cu pd pt ru rh ir ta cr mn mo tc w re fe sc ti sn ge sb al ln and zn a transparent thin film electrode according to the present invention may b e deposited using an e beam evaporator physical vapor deposition pvd chemical vapor deposition cvd plasma laser deposition pld a dual type thermal evaporator or an evaporator where sputtering can be used although there is no specific limitation on deposition conditions it is desirable that the deposition temperature is 20 to 1 500 u00b0 c and the pressure ranges from atmospheric pressure to about 10 u2212 12 torr to further improve ohmic characteristics the transparent film electrode is preferably annealed at a temperature below 700 u00b0 c for 1 second to 10 hours under vacuum or in nitrogen n 2 argon ar helium he o 2 hydrogen h.