NOVELTY - The method involves irradiating a semiconductor substrate (101) with accelerated ions through an oxide film and a nitrogen-containing layer to form a separation layer from a surface of the substrate. The substrate and a base substrate are placed opposite to each other to bond a surface of the nitrogen layer and a surface of the base substrate to each other. The semiconductor substrate is heated to cause separation along the separation layer to form a single crystal semiconductor layer over the base substrate with the film and the nitrogen layer.    USE - Method for manufacturing a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate of a semiconductor device such as n-channel thin film transistor (TFT), p-channel TFT, microprocessor, computer, LCD device, electroluminescent display device, camera e.g. video camera and digital camera, navigation system, sound reproduction system e.g. car audio system, and audio component, portable information terminal e.g. mobile computer, cell phone, portable game machine, and electronic book reader, and image reproduction device provided with recording media e.g. DVD. Can also be used for other semiconductor device such as solar cell, photo integrated circuit (IC), and semiconductor memory device.    ADVANTAGE - The nitrogen-containing layer functions as a barrier layer for preventing an impurity such as mobile ions or moisture contained in the base substrate from diffusing into the single crystal semiconductor layer provided over the base substrate, thus suppressing occurrence of defective bonding between the base substrate and the semiconductor substrate, and simplifying SOI substrate manufacturing process by eliminating a restriction on the process, and hence reducing the cost for manufacturing the device and improving reliability of the semiconductor device. The method enables performing film formation by a plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method using a silane gas, an ammonia gas, and a hydrogen gas, so that the nitrogen-containing layer contains a large amount of hydrogen, and hence dehydrogenation reaction during film formation can be suppressed and the amount of hydrogen contained in the nitrogen-containing layer can be increased, when the substrate temperature during film formation is low, thus achieving strong bond with the base substrate. The method enables using a large-sized mother glass substrate as the base substrate, and manufacturing the SOI substrate through bonding with the semiconductor substrates, so that the SOI substrate can have a larger size, and the number of semiconductor devices that can be manufactured from a single substrate can be increased, thus improving productivity.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - The semiconductor substrate is a single crystal silicon substrate. The base substrate is a glass substrate. The oxide film is a silicon oxide film or silicon oxynitride film.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The drawing shows a sectional view of a semiconductor substrate.    Semiconductor substrate (101)