Patent ID: 7465353

Claim:
A method for growing an epitaxial crystal while a dopant is added to a compound semiconductor substrate, wherein off angles which are measured at a plurality of positions in a plane of the compound semiconductor substrate we measured off angles and an average value thereof is an average off angle; and wherein in case that a doping efficiency to the epitaxial crystal is constant when the average off angle of the compound semiconductor substrate is not more than a predetermined angle; and that the doping efficiency is monotonically decreased when the average off angle is larger than the predetermined angle, the method comprises: using the same type of compound semiconductor substrate, in which an in-plane variation of the measured off angles is within a predetermined range, in advance; obtaining at least the doping efficiency in case that the average off angle of the substrate is not more than the predetermined angle, and the doping efficiency in case that the average off angle of the substrate is larger than the predetermined angle, respectively, and establishing a relation equation between the average off angle and the doping efficiency based on the obtained average off angle and the obtained doping efficiency; substituting an average off angle of a substrate to be used for the relation equation to calculate a doping efficiency in case of using the substrate to be used, and setting a doping condition for carrying out an epitaxial growth on the compound semiconductor substrate based on the calculated doping efficiency and the doping efficiency which is constant when the average off angle of the substrate is not more than the predetermined angle: and wherein the average off angle is 0.01° to 10°.