High-temperature annealing (HTA) is one of the most promising techniques to produce high-quality, cost-efficient AlN templates for further epitaxial growth of AlGaN devices. Unfortunately, the yield of this process seems to be limited due to the restricting face-to-face configuration that is typically used, in which contaminations of the template surface can occur easily. In our most recent publication on AlN, based on theoretical considerations and measurements, a strategy to reduce the sublimation of AlN during HTA in open-face configuration is suggested: