The present invention is directed to a production method for a nitride compound semiconductor element including a substrate and a multilayer structure 40 supported by an upper face of the substrate. First, a wafer 1 to be split into individual substrates is provided. A plurality of semiconductor layers composing the multilayer structure 40 are grown on the wafer 1. By cleaving the wafer 1 and the semiconductor layers, a cleavage plane in the multilayer structure 40 is formed. In the present invention, a plurality of voids are arranged at positions in the multilayer structure at which a cleavage plane is to be formed. Thus, cleavage can be performed with a good yield.