Patent ID: 8361226

Claim:
A III-nitride single-crystal growth method, comprising: a step of placing source material ( 1 ) in a crucible ( 12 ) provided with a first source material compartment ( 12 p ), a second source material compartment ( 12 q ), and a crystal-growth compartment ( 12 r ), and provided with ventilation openings ( 12 a , 12 b , 12 c ) between the first source material compartment ( 12 p ) and the second source material compartment ( 12 q ), and between at least one source material compartment of the first and the second source material compartments ( 12 p , 12 q ) and the crystal-growth compartment ( 12 r ); and a step of sublimating the source material ( 1 ) to grow an Al x Ga 1-x N (0<x≦1) single crystal ( 4 ) in the crucible ( 12 ); wherein the source material ( 1 ) includes an Al y Ga 1-y N (0<y≦1) source ( 2 ), and an impurity element ( 3 ), the impurity element ( 3 ) is at least one selected from the group consisting of IVb elements and IIa elements, the crucible ( 12 ) is made of a substance that is different from the impurity element ( 3 ), the Al y Ga 1-y N source ( 2 ) is arranged in the first source material compartment ( 12 p ) and the impurity element ( 3 ) is arranged in the second source material compartment ( 12 q ), in the source material ( 1 ), a ratio n E /n A of the number of moles n E of atoms of the impurity element ( 3 ) to the number of moles n A of the Al atoms in the Al y Ga 1-y N source ( 2 ) is between 0.01 to 0.5 inclusive, and a ratio n E /n O of the number of moles n E of atoms of the impurity element ( 3 ) to the number of moles n O of atoms of the oxygen contained in the material source ( 1 ) is between 2 and 1 ×10 4 inclusive.