Improved structural quality and radiative efficiency were observed in GaN thin films grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on SiN and TiN porous network templates. The room-temperature decay times obtained from biexponential fits to time-resolved photoluminescence data are increased with the inclusion of SiN and TiN layers. The carrier lifetime of 1.86 ns measured for a TiN network sample is slightly longer than that for a 200 μm -thick high-quality freestanding GaN. The linewidth of the asymmetric x-ray diffraction (XRD) (10 1- 2) peak decreases considerably with the use of SiN and TiN layers, indicating the reduction in threading dislocation density. However, no direct correlation is yet found between the decay times and the XRD linewidths, suggesting that point defect and impurity-related nonradiative centers are the main parameters affecting the lifetime. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.