We report epitaxial growth of the Heusler alloy Fe3Si on high-index GaAs(113)A substrates by molecular-beam epitaxy. The growth temperature and growth rate are optimized to 250 degrees C and 0.13 nm/min, respectively, for producing Fe3Si films with structural properties comparable to that of Fe3Si films on GaAs(001). The layers grown under these conditions exhibit high crystal quality with smoother interface/surface and maintain the [113] orientation of the GaAs substrate. The Fe-Si alloy composition is varied around the Fe3Si stoichiometry using these optimized growth conditions. The magnetic properties of a typical Fe3Si layer with the best structural properties exhibit a four-fold magnetic anisotropy, as expected from the magnetocrystalline anisotropy. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.