We report the direct patterning of diffractive optical elements (DOEs) on a flat conventional lateral-type light-emitting diode (LED) surface. Silicon dioxide, used as a diffractive optical element, was deposited on the flat surface of an LED by using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and was patterned by using nano-imprint lithography and ion-coupled plasma etching to produce nanometer-scale DOEs. This method suggests a new approach for the mass production of DOEs by minimizing the size of the optical device through direct patterning on the LED surface. The resulting DOEs also act as focal Fresnel lenses, leading to an enhancement of the external light-extraction efficiency of lateral-type LEDs based on the scattering effect and the concentration of the emitted light.