Patent ID: 6897138

Claim:
A method for producing a Group III nitride compound semiconductor, the method employing a substrate which is produced from a material other than the Group III nitride compound semiconductor, comprising: placing said substrate such that a lower face of said substrate is faced to an epitaxial growth system for producing the Group III nitride compound semiconductor and an upper face of said substrate is faced to an etching system which is isolated from the epitaxial growth system and is placed at an upper side of said epitaxial growth system; stacking at least one layer of the Group III nitride compound semiconductor on said lower face of said substrate in the epitaxial growth system; and etching said upper face of said substrate in the etching system at least one of during said stacking at least one semiconductor layer and after completion of said stacking at least one semiconductor layer, to thereby reduce a thickness of said substrate until most of said substrate has been removed.