A III-V light emitting device with pixels (mesa regions) specifically designed to enable lower cost through layer vias is disclosed for reduced cost of manufacture of the device. Reduction of cost of manufacture is achieved by having non-uniform width trench regions formed during pixel etch for the multi-pixel array part of the device. Through-layer vias are specifically formed in the wider part of the trench regions using cheaper lithography toolset enabled by the larger via critical dimension achievable in the wider part of the trench regions (as compared to narrow part of the trench regions). Larger via critical dimension enables improved electrical (and consequently optical) performance of the device due to better overlay control as well as lower via resistance.