TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: The method involves: providing a laterally grown gallium based seed crystal, where the laterally grown gallium based seed crystal have a maximum length of at least 25 mm and a first thickness orthogonal to a first direction of the maximum length and a second thickness orthogonal to the first direction of the maximum length, where each of the first thickness and the second thickness is at least 0.3 mm; and subjecting the laterally grown gallium based seed crystal to an ammonothermal growth of a gallium based crystalline material to cause the laterally grown gallium based seed crystal to grow in a second direction lateral to the first direction of maximum length by a distance of at least 5 mm to form a c-grown crystal containing two large-area m-orientation surfaces, where each of the m-surfaces have an area of at least 25 mm2. The method further involves separating at least one a-wing from the proto-seed and utilizing the a-wing as a seed crystal for ammonothermal crystal growth, where the ammonothermal crystal growth produces a rhombus-shaped crystal with large-area c+ and c- surfaces with a surface area of at least 25 mm2, the rhombus-shaped crystal have a top surface and a bottom surface; slicing the rhombus-shaped crystal approximately parallel to a large area surface to form at least one wafer; utilizing the rhombus-shaped crystal or a wafer prepared from it as a seed crystal or substrate for further bulk crystal growth; utilizing the rhombus-shaped crystal or a wafer prepared from it as a substrate for manufacture of a semiconductor structure, where the semiconductor structure comprises at least one AlxInyGa(1-x-y)N epitaxial layer; using the semiconductor structure in a gallium-nitride-based electronic device or optoelectronic device; slicing the rhombus-shaped crystal into at least two laterally-grown strip-shaped crystals with at least two long edges whose orientation is within 10 degrees of an m-plane; and utilizing the laterally-grown strip-shaped crystals as seeds for ammonothermal crystal growth and growing the crystals by at least 5 mm in the +/-c direction to form a c-grown crystal.x= less than or equal to 0;x+y= less than or equal to 1.Preferred Components: The proto-seed has impurity concentrations of oxygen (O), hydrogen (H), carbon (C), sodium (Na), and potassium (K) below 1x 1017 cm-3, 2x 1017 cm-3, 1x 1017 cm-3, 1x 1016 cm-3, and 1x 1016 cm-3, respectively. The a-wings have a dislocation density below 104 cm-2. The proto-seed is provided by removing a seed crystal structure from a thick gallium and nitrogen containing substrate made using hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) growth or where the proto seed is provided by removing a seed crystal structure from a thick gallium and nitrogen containing substrate made using ammonothermal growth. The a-wings are formed inhomogeneously. The top and bottom surfaces of the rhombus-shaped crystal have impurity concentrations of O, H, C, Na, and K of 1x 1017 cm-3 and 1x 1019 cm-3, 1x 1017 cm-3 and 2x 1019 cm-3, below 1x 1017 cm-3, below 1x 1016 cm-3, and below 1x 1016 cm-3, respectively. The rhombus-shaped crystal have impurity concentrations of O, H, C, and at least one of Na and K of 1x 1017 cm-3 and 1x 1017 cm-3, 1x 1017 cm-3 and 2x 1019 cm-3, below 1x 1017 cm-3, and 3x 1015 cm-3 and 1x 1018 cm-3, respectively. The top and bottom surfaces of the rhombus-shaped crystal have impurity concentrations of O, H, C, and at least one of F and Cl of 1x 1017 cm-3 and 1x 1019 cm-3, 1x 1017 cm-3 and 2x 1019 cm-3, below 1x 1017 cm-3, and 1x 1015 cm-3 and 1x 1017 cm-3, respectively. The rhombus-shaped crystal has an infrared absorption peak at 3175 cm1, with an absorbance per unit thickness of greater than 0.01 cm-1. The rhombus-shaped crystal has a crystallographic radius of curvature greater than 20 meters. The c-grown crystal is characterized by a full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) of the 1-100 X-ray rocking curve of at least one of the large area m-plane surfaces below 50 arcsec, a dislocation density on at least one large-area m-plane surface below 106 cm-2, and a dislocation density through a c-plane in the c-grown crystal 105 cm-2. The c-grown crystal has an infrared absorption peak at 3175 cm-1, with an absorbance per unit thickness of greater than 0.01 cm-1. The c-grown crystal has a crystallographic radius of curvature greater than 20 meters. The gallium based crystal further comprises at least two (10-1 plus minus 1) facets.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INSTRUMENTATION AND TESTING - Preferred Device: The gallium-nitride-based electronic device or optoelectronic device is selected from light emitting diode, laser diode, photodetector, avalanche photodiode, photovoltaic, solar cell, cell for photoelectrochemical splitting of water, transistor, rectifier, and thyristor; one of transistor, rectifier, Schottky rectifier, thyristor, p-i-n diode, metal-semiconductor-metal diode, high-electron mobility transistor, metal semiconductor field effect transistor, metal oxide field effect transistor, power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor, power metal insulator semiconductor field effect transistor, bipolar junction transistor, metal insulator field effect transistor, heterojunction bipolar transistor, power insulated gate bipolar transistor, power vertical junction field effect transistor, cascade switch, inner sub-band emitter, quantum well infrared photodetector, and/or quantum dot infrared photodetector. The device comprises at least a pair of major c-plane surfaces. The device is provided as a seed for lateral growth of gallium and nitrogen containing material in a-plane. The major surface is oriented in a c-plane and an m-plane. EXAMPLE - No suitable example given.