Patent ID: 7759149

Claim:
A method for forming a gallium-nitride-based semiconductor stacked structure comprising the steps of: providing a sapphire substrate; forming, on the sapphire substrate, a low-temperature-deposited buffer layer which is composed of a Group III nitride material of Al X Ga Y N (0.5<Y≦1, X+Y=1) containing gallium (Ga) in a predominant amount with respect to aluminum (Al) and which is provided in a junction area thereof joined to a (0001) plane (c-plane) of the sapphire substrate with a single crystal in an as-grown state; and forming a gallium-nitride-based semiconductor layer on the low-temperature-deposited buffer layer; wherein the low-temperature-deposited buffer layer is formed on the (0001) plane of the sapphire substrate in such a manner that the junction area is predominantly formed of an as-grown single crystal which has a [1.0.−1.0.] orientation parallel to a [2.−1.−1.0.] direction of a lattice forming the (0001) plane of the sapphire substrate, wherein the as-grown single crystal which is contained in the low-temperature-deposited buffer layer and which predominantly forms the junction area joined to the sapphire substrate has a thickness of 1 nm or more when formation of the low-temperature-deposited buffer layer has been completed.