The effect of the off-cut angle of an r-plane sapphire substrate has been investigated on the growth of a-plane AlN thick layer by low-pressure hydride vapor phase epitaxy (LP-HVPE). The off-cut angle (theta) was changed from +5.0 degrees (close to c-axis) to -5.0 degrees (close to m-axis). Results show that the crystalline quality and surface morphology are very sensitive to the sign of theta off-angle. The plus theta off-angle is found to be dramatically reduce the full-widths at half-maximum (FWHM) of X-ray rocking curves (XRC), compared with the minus theta off-angle. In-plane FWHM anisotropic feature marked as M- or W-shape dependence on azimuth angle was observed for a-plane AlN. The shape and degree of anisotropy depend on the sign of theta off-angle, while the plus of theta off-angle will leads to the W-shape and the decreased anisotropy. The minimum crystal tilts and twists of the films are observed for the vicinal sapphires with the plus off-angles of +0.2 degrees to +1.0 degrees. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.