Provided is a semiconductor device that can reduce the contact resistance, has a small current collapse, and can improve the pinch-off characteristic upon a high-frequency operation. A field effect transistor using a wurtzite (having (0001) as the main plane) type III-nitride semiconductor includes: a substrate (101); an undercoat layer (103) of a first III-nitride semiconductor; and a carrier travel layer (104) of a second III-nitride semiconductor. The undercoat layer (103) (101) and the carrier travel layer (104) is formed on the substrate in this order. The field effect transistor includes source/drain electrodes (105, 106) in ohmic contact, and a gate electrode (107) in Schottky contact directly or via another layer on the carrier travel layer (104). The undercoat layer (103) has an average lattice constant greater than that of the carrier travel layer (104) and a band gap greater than that of the carrier travel layer (104).