Patent ID: 7888250

Claim:
A method for activating a compound semiconductor, comprising the steps of: placing the compound semiconductor in a reaction vessel; replacing an inner gas in the reaction vessel with a low-vapor-pressure gas whose equilibrium vapor pressure at a melting point of the compound semiconductor is one atmospheric pressure or lower; causing low-vapor-pressure gas to flow along a surface of the compound semiconductor while keeping an internal pressure of the reaction vessel at a value equal to or higher than the equilibrium vapor pressure; and irradiating a pulsed-laser light whose photon energy is higher than a band gap of the compound semiconductor to the surface of the compound semiconductor, thereby permitting only a part of the compound semiconductor located at an irradiation position of the pulsed-laser light to be melted while allowing an atmospheric temperature of the low-vapor-pressure gas to be kept at a room temperature or a temperature not higher than a decomposition temperature.