We investigated the influences of periodic Si delta-doping on the characteristics of n-GaN grown on Si (111) substrate by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). By using periodic delta-doping, the tensile stress in GaN film induced by Si-doping was reduced to 0.057 GPa/10(18) cm(-3) electrons, which was 56% smaller than that in uniformly doped GaN. Moreover, superior electrical properties were achieved in periodic delta-doped GaN films without cracks by varying the Si doping level. X-ray diffraction measurements show similar 002 and 102 full widths at half maximum (FWHMs) for periodic delta-doped GaN and uniformly doped GaN with the same Si doping amount, implying equivalent crystalline qualities of GaN:Si through the two doping methods. A narrower FWHM of the near band edge emission of GaN was obtained in the photoluminescence spectrum with periodic delta-doping, indicating enhanced optical properties. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.