The synthesis and characterization of bulk GaMnN crystals are reported. The crystals were prepared from solid gallium and powdered manganese sources and reacted with ammonia. Electron probe measurements found the crystals containing 5 at% Mn. Structural characterization of the crystals were performed using X-ray diffraction and were found to have the c-axis, parallel to the dominant plane of the platelets. Additionally, the Raman Spectra of the bulk crystals was obtained and compared to that of undoped GaN. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.