The bowing curvature of the free-standing GaN substrate significantly decreased almost linearly from 067 to 0 056 m(-1) (i e the bowing radius increased from 1 5 to 178 m) with increase in inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching time at the N-polar face and eventually changed the bowing direction from convex to concave Furthermore the Influences of the bowing curvature on the measured full width at half maximum (FWEIM) of high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) in (0 0 2) reflection were also deduced which reduced from 176 8 to 888 arcsec with increase in ICP etching time Decrease in the nonhomogeneous distribution of threading dislocations and point defects as well as V-Ga-O-N complex defects on removing the GaN layer from N-polar face which removed large amount of defects was one of the reasons that improved the bowing of the free-standing GaN substrate Another reason was the high aspect ratio of needle-like GaN that appeared at the N-polar face after ICP etching which released the compressive strain of the free-standing GaN substrate By doing so crack-free and extremely flat free-standing GaN substrates with a bowing radius of 178 m could be obtained (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved