Study on the sources of stress in HVPE-GaN layer crystallized on 1-in. ammonothermally grown GaN seed is presented in this paper. Characterization by means of X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy is performed. HVPE-GaN samples of high quality and those with visible quality deterioration are investigated on c-plane and m-plane cross-sections. Special attention is paid to HVPE material growing in semi-polar and non-polar directions on the edges of the seed and the growing layer. It is shown that this material generates significant stress leading to a structural deterioration of HVPE-GaN growing in the c-direction. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.