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• Crystallization of GaN:Si,C was carried out to examine the role of C in n-type GaN crystals. • Intentional incorporation of high concentrations of Si and C is possible. • Raman spectroscopy shows low-frequency modes in co-doped crystals, suggesting SiC precipitates. • YL peak's position and intensity vary with dopant specifics, hinting at Si-C complexes or V Ga. In this work co-doping with silicon and carbon in gallium nitride grown by halide vapor phase epitaxy was performed. Native seeds of high structural quality with bowing radii of (0 0 0 1) crystallographic planes higher than 15 m and threading dislocation density on the order of 5 × 104 cm−3 were used. The crystallized material was examined in terms of structural, optical, and electrical properties. For this purpose different characterization methods: X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, low-temperature photoluminescence, and Hall measurements, were applied. The physical properties of samples doped only with silicon and co-doped with carbon were analyzed and compared. However, during the crystallization process, due to high amount of Si and C, clusters of silicon carbide were unintentionally formed. The formation of these SiC clusters had an impact on the properties of the GaN crystals that were being studied. The research provides an initial insight into the complex studies of co-doping gallium nitride crystals. The results of this paper give us groundwork for more in-depth exploration of this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]