Electrical properties, deep traps spectra and structural performance were studied for m-GaN films grown on m-SiC substrates by standard metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and by MOCVD with lateral overgrowth (ELO) or sidewall lateral overgrowth (SELO). Standard MOCVD m-GaN films with a very high dislocation density over 10(9) cm(-2) are semi-insulating n-type with the Fermi level pinned near E-c-0.7 eV when grown at high V/III ratio. For lower V/III they become more highly conducting, with the electrical properties still dominated by a high density (similar to 10(16) cm(-3)) of E-c-0.6 eV electron traps. Lateral overgrowth that reduces the dislocation density by several orders of magnitude results in a marked increase in the uncompensated shallow donor density (similar to 10(15) cm(-3)) and a substantial decrease of the density of major electron traps at E-c-0.25 and E-c-0.6 eV (down to about 10(14) cm(-3)). Possible explanations are briefly discussed. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.