Aluminum nitride (AIN) was grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). The experiments utilized a two zone inductively heated hot-wall reactor. The surface morphology, crystal quality, and growth rate were investigated as a function of growth temperature in the range of 1450-1575 degrees C. AIN templates grown to a thickness of 1 mu m were optimized with double axis X-ray diffraction (XRD) rocking curve full width half maximums (FWHMs) of 135" for the (002) and 513" for the (102). (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.