METHOD FOR PRODUCING GROUP III NITRIDE CRYSTALS, GROUP III NITRIDE CRYSTALS AND SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE

摘要

Provided is a method for producing group III nitride crystals whereby group III nitride crystals having a large size and excellent quality with little defects can be produced. The method for producing group III nitride crystals (13) comprises: a seed crystal selection step for selecting multiple portions of a group III nitride crystal layer (11) as seed crystals for the formation and growth of the group III nitride crystals (13); a contact step for contacting the surface of the seed crystals with an alkali metal melt; and a crystal growth step for reacting a III group element with nitrogen in the alkali metal melt under a nitrogen-containing atmosphere to form the group III nitride crystals (13) and allow the growth thereof. In the aforesaid method for producing group III nitride crystals (13): the seed crystals are hexagonal crystals; in the seed crystal selection step, the seed crystals are positioned so as to almost avoid the overlap of the m-planes of the individual crystals having grown from seed crystals adjacent to each other; and, in the crystal growth step, multiple group III nitride crystals (13) having grown from the multiple seed crystals are bonded together due to the growth of the group III nitride crystals (13).