We report the observation of ordering in Al0.3Ga0.7N as part of an epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) of GaN carried out using (11 (2) over bar2) GaN templates grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on m-plane sapphire. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the crystalline quality of the ELO GaN was greatly improved when the ELO SiO2 mask was patterned along the [11 (2) over bar0](sapphire) direction. The ELO GaN wings had an inclined columnar shape with smooth (0001) and (11 (2) over bar0) facets. Layers of 1: 1 [0001] ordered a-plane Al0.3Ga0.7N were observed on the a-plane GaN facets by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and high-angle annular-dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy. However, no ordering was observed for c-plane Al0.3Ga0.7N layers grown at the same time on the c-plane GaN facets. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.