alpha-Fe him growth was carried out by mass-separated, low-energy, ion beam deposition. Fe+ ion energies in the range 10-400 eV were used for deposition on Si(111) and Ge(111) substrates at room temperature. Epitaxially grown alpha-Fe(111) films were obtained on Si(111) and Ge(111) between 10 and 150 eV and 10 and 300 eV respectively. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) patterns showed that higher quality alpha-Fe films were obtained at higher Fe+ ion energies on both Si(111) and Ge(111). In both cases, no damage was observed by cross-sectional, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) at the interfaces in the lattice images of the substrates irradiated at these Fe+ ion energies. The difference between the higher limits of the Fe+ ion energy at which epitaxially grown alpha-Fe films were obtained is discussed in relation to the recovery process.