A comprehensive analysis of operating parameters of Addon RF nitrogen plasma source was made in order to determine how a ratio of different active nitrogen species depends on operating parameters of the source such as supplied power and nitrogen flow. We show that output signal of the optical sensor that measures intensity of the light emitted by the plasma is a direct measure of the amount of active nitrogen available for growth. Results of optical emission spectroscopy and measurements of growth kinetics show that nitrogen excited metastable molecules are the species mainly contributing to the growth of GaN under Ga-rich conditions. A procedure is presented allowing to find an optimal conditions of the plasma cell for high-quality GaN growth. Under these conditions the nitrogen flux contains maximum amount of excited metastable molecules and minimal amount of ionic and atomic nitrogen species to minimize GaN lattice damage, even at high growth rates. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.