Patent ID: 7288152

Claim:
A method of manufacturing GaN crystals, in which in a gas atmosphere containing nitrogen, gallium and the nitrogen are allowed to react with each other to generate and grow GaN crystals on seed crystals in a mixed melt of the gallium and sodium, wherein the gallium and the nitrogen are allowed to react with each other under a pressurizing condition that exceeds atmospheric pressure, and pressure P 1 (atm(×1.013×10 5 Pa)) in a part or the whole of the pressurizing condition satisfies a condition that is expressed by the following conditional expression (I), and a growth rate at which the GaN crystals grow is decreased stepwise or continuously from surfaces of the seed crystals towards surfaces of the GaN crystals: P≦P 1 <( P +45) (I), where in the expression (I), P (atm(×1.013×10 5 Pa)) denotes a minimum pressure that is required for generating GaN crystals at a temperature T (° C.) of the mixed melt.