Highly doped Si(SW films were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si (100) substrates. In two sets of samples the influence of the Sb flux and the growth temperature on the layer quality (defects, surface morphology) was investigated. Highly doped layers with low-defect density are interesting especially for the application as buried contact layers for high-frequency device fabrication as well as for basic studies. It is shown that the defects in the 300-500 nm thick layers are not caused by high doping (similar to 1*10(20) cm(-3)). In fact, the Sb coverage is mainly responsible for the layer quality. A growth strategy in consideration of the Sb segregation is found which produces highly doped Si(Sb) layers with low-defect density, <1 * 10(3) cm(-2). The quality of these layers is appropriate for device fabrication. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.