Atmospheric pressure-metal organic chemical vapour deposition (AP-MOCVD) was used to grow InAs and InGaAs quantum dots (QDs) on GaAs/Si substrate. The influence of growth temperature on the QD density and distribution was investigated. Scanning probe microscopy (AFM and DFM) was used to investigate the growth behaviour of the QD structure. The growth properties of InAsAnGaAs QDs on the highly stressed GaAs/Si substrate under S-K growth mode at different deposition temperatures have been analysed. It was identified that the growth temperature plays major role in determining the growth and distribution of both InAs and InGaAs QDs due to the temperature-dependent dislocation propagation from the GaAs/Si substrate. The growth of InGaAs QDs was found "In" composition dependent. A high QD density of similar to5 x 10(10)-6 x 10(10) cm(-2) was obtained on GaAs/Si at a growth temperature of 500 C. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.