PREPARATION OF SEMICONDUCTOR CRYSTAL

PURPOSE:To prepare a semiconductor crystal having desired shape and excellent characteristics, in high processability, by carrying out the liquid-phase epitaxial growth using the oxide film formed on a III-V compound semiconductor substrate as the mask for the selective growth, removing said oxide film, and applying a plurality of layers to the substrate by liquid-phase epitaxial growth. CONSTITUTION:A strip of the autoxidation film 10 of GaAs is formed on the principal surface of an n type GaAs substrate 1, and a p type GaAs layer 2 is selectively grown on the surface using the film 10 as a mask for the selective growth. The film 10 is removed with HCl gas by vapor-phase reaction, and a layer of n type AlGaAs 4, an active layer of p type GaAs 5, a layer of p type GaAs 6, and a contact layer of p type GaAs are successively grown on the layer 2. The p-side electrode 8 and the n-side electrode 9 are formed on the layer 7 and the substrate 1 respectively, to obtain a laser diode. A semiconductor crystal having a desired shape can be prepared by single epitaxial growth process.