Patent ID: 8367445

Claim:
A method for producing a Group III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device by forming a stripe-pattern embossment on a surface of a sapphire substrate, and forming a layered structure, on the substrate, which layer structure includes a Group III nitride semiconductor layer whose main surface is a non-polar plane or a semi-polar plane, through growing of a Group III nitride semiconductor crystal on side surfaces of dents or mesas of the embossment, the method comprising: forming, on a surface of a sapphire substrate, a first stripe-pattern embossment including a plurality of first grooves which are arranged in a stripe pattern as viewed from above and are aligned parallel to a first direction, the first direction being parallel to the main surface of the sapphire substrate; forming an insulating film over the entire surface of the first stripe-pattern embossment on the surface of the sapphire substrate; forming, on the insulating film, a stripe-pattern resist mask so that the stripe is aligned in a second direction, the second direction being inclined by a specific angle with respect to the first direction; forming a second stripe-pattern embossment by dry-etching a portion of the insulating film in a region which is not covered with the resist mask, and then dry-etching the thus-exposed portion of the sapphire substrate until the bottom surface of the thus-etched portion becomes flat; and forming a Group III nitride semiconductor layer whose main surface is a non-polar plane or a semi-polar plane by removing the resist mask, and growing, through MOCVD, a Group III nitride semiconductor crystal on a surface which has been exposed through the forming the second stripe-pattern embossment and which is perpendicular to the main surface of the sapphire substrate so that crystal growth proceeds in a direction perpendicular to the exposed surface.