Chemical liquid deposition was used to form Ga- and N-containing thin films on single-crystal silicon and sapphire substrates. Films were grown from a gallium carbodiimide-based polymeric precursor solution at room temperature on the substrates which were previously functionalized by amine-terminated self-assembled monolayers followed by pyrolysis in NH3 at 900degreesC. On sapphire, epitaxial growth of hexagonal gallium nitride islands was found after pyrolysis. The composition, morphology and microstructure of the films were characterized by Auger electron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.