Patent ID: 8613802

Claim:
A nitride semiconductor crystal manufacturing apparatus whereby a nitride-semiconductor-containing source material is sublimed and nitride semiconductor crystal is grown by the deposition of the sublimed source-material gases, the apparatus comprising: a reaction vessel having a pair of inlet ports at one end and a pair of exhaust ports at an end opposite the inlet-port end; a crucible, disposed within said reaction vessel, for interiorly carrying source material, said crucible being free of carbon atoms and made of a metal whose melting point is higher than that of the source material; a heating unit disposed about the outer periphery of the crucible, for heating the crucible interior; a bilaminar covering component arranged spaced apart from said crucible, in between said crucible and said heating unit and hermetically closing off said crucible within said reaction vessel except at one of said inlet ports and one of said exhaust ports, such that the other one of said inlet ports and the other one of said exhaust ports are disposed outside said covering component; and an inert carrier gas, selected from helium, neon and argon, flowing within said reaction vessel along said covering component outer peripherally; wherein said covering component includes a first layer formed along a covering-component side opposing said crucible, and made of a metal whose melting point is higher than that of the source material, and a second layer formed along the outer periphery of said first layer, and made of a carbide of the metal that constitutes said first layer; and the thermal expansion coefficient of said covering component monotonically decreases heading from its inner periphery to its outer periphery.