Group III nitride compound semiconductor are direct-transition semiconductors exhibiting a wide range of emission spectra from UV to red light when used in an element such as a light-emitting device, and have been used in light-emitting devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs). In addition, due to their broad band gaps, divices employing the aforementioned semiconductors are expected to exhibit reliable operational characteristics at high temperature as compared with those employing semiconductors of other types, and thus application thereof to transistors such as FETs has been energetically studied. Moreover, since Group III nitride compound semiconductors contain no arsenic (As) as a predominant element, application of Group III nitride compound semiconductors to various semiconductor devices has been longed for from the environmental aspect. Generally, these Group III nitride compound semiconductors are formed on a sapphire substrate.
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