A comprehensive analysis is made of III-nitride epitaxial growth to reveal possible effect of operating conditions on the flow pattern and growth rate uniformity in vertical high-speed rotating disk reactors. A number of three-dimensional computations have been made in terms of detailed physical-chemical MOVPE models. Mechanisms governing the flow patterns, as one of the factors affecting the growth efficiency, are considered. Special attention is given to parametric studies aimed at revealing the effect of operating conditions on the growth rate uniformity. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.