This study presents the growth of gallium nitride (GaN) on silicon (Si) substrate using a RF sputter method. A double preprocessing operation is proposed, first etching the substrate in NH4F and then exposing the substrate to ionized N2 for 30minutes. It is shown that this preprocessing forms a SiN(subscript x) buffer layer on Si substrate prior to GaN film growth. It is implied that no GaN layer can be grown on a Si substrate without SiN(subscript x) between the GaN and the Si substrate. Studied growth temperature range is from room temperature to 450°C. Good quality and reliability are obtained at deposition rates up to 558Å/hr. The refractive index of the sputtered GaN/Si film is about 1.88 with growth at 300°C. When the sputtered GaN/Si film is measured with a four point probe, the surface sheet resistivity is about 61Ω/square.