  We investigate the creation of a brane world with a bulk scalar field. We
consider an exponential potential of a bulk scalar field: $V(\phi)\propto
\exp(-2\beta \phi)$, where $\beta$ is the parameter of the theory. This model
is based on a supersymmetric theory, and includes the Randall-Sundrum model
($\beta=0$) and the 5-dimensional effective model of the Ho\u{r}va-Witten
theory ($\beta=1$). We show that for this potential a brane instanton is
constructed only when the curvature of a brane vanishes, that is, the brane is
flat. We construct an instanton with two branes and a singular instanton with a
single brane. The Euclidean action of the singular instanton solution is finite
if $\beta^2 >2/3$. We also calculate perturbations of the action around a
singular instanton solution in order to show that the singular instanton is
well-defined.
