Molecular beam epitaxy growth of GaSb growth on Si(111) substrates can be improved by pre-depositing Sb at high temperature. The (root 3 x root 3) reconstruction obtained by this procedure results in closed heteroepitaxial GaSb layers in contrast to the direct growth on Si(111)(7 x 7) which produces islands. The growth is characterized by atomic force microscopy, electron and X-ray diffractions. On the basis of these investigations, the formation of an interface misfit dislocation network is discussed. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.