We report the growth of atomically smooth N-polar GaN on c-plane sapphire by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. A two-step growth technique was adopted; low-temperature growth of GaN buffer before high-temperature GaN growth. The complete two-dimensional N-polar GaN growth process was recorded by in situ reflectance. The phase composition of the low-temperature GaN was examined by X-ray diffraction pole figure measurements. The thickness of the low-temperature GaN buffer dramatically affected the crystalline and electronic properties of the N-polar GaN. A very small full width at half maximum for the (0 0 0 2) X-ray rocking curve, 51 arcs, was obtained for 700-nm-thick N-polarity GaN by optimizing the buffer thickness. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.