© 2018 Elsevier B.V. This paper presents the impact of temperature and nitrogen-composition on the growth mode and crystallinity of GaAsPN alloys. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction results combined with transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that maintaining two-dimensional (2-D) growth required higher temperatures when nitrogen composition increased. Outside the 2-D growth windows, stacking faults and micro-twins were preferentially formed at {1 1 1} B planes rather than at the {1 1 1} A planes and anomalous growth was observed. The photoluminescence spectra of GaAsPN layers implies that the higher temperature growth is effective for reducing the nitrogen-related point defects.