In this work, a freestanding Fe4N crystal was grown by atmospheric pressure halide vapor-phase epitaxy (AP-HVPE) using FeCl3 and NH3 as starting materials. A crystal with 100 mum thickness on a MgO (100) substrate was obtained. Subsequently, the substrate of MgO (100) was removed. The full width at half maximum of the X-ray (200) diffraction peak for the Fe4N crystal was about 80 s. Crystalline quality of Fe4N is supported by X-ray pole-figure. The saturation magnetization and coercive force of the crystal grown at 873 K were 184 emu g(-1) and 20 Oe, respectively. It is found that the AP-HVPE is an excellent method for preparing freestanding Fe4N crystal with high quality. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.