[en] Homoepitaxial layers of AlN and heteroepitaxial layers of AlN on 4H-SiC substrates were grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition at high temperatures up to 1400 °C, and with various thicknesses. From high resolution x-ray diffraction measurements of a set of homoepitaxial layers of high structural quality, the following mean value of the lattice constants was determined: a  =  3.111 31  ±  0.000 16 Å, and c  =  4.980 79  ±  0.000 11 Å. The structural quality of the heteroepitaxial layers was demonstrated, for example, by extracting the full width at a half maximum of the (0002) and (10–12) rocking curves of 25 arcsec and 372 arcsec, respectively, associated with a crack-free heteroepitaxial layer with a thickness of 1.3 μm grown at 1240 °C. From measuring a set of AlN heteroepitaxial layers, the following value of the biaxial strain relaxation coefficient was determined: R _B  =  −0.556. (paper)