Laser‐induced chemical vapor deposition (LCVD) of GaAs allows deposited film to trace the path of the laser beam, thus making it attractive for several applications. However the localized thermal expansion resulting from the laser‐induced temperature rise has to be elastically accomodated in order to prevent lattice defects in the LCVD film. We report on the growth conditions that can be allowed without the occurrence of plastic deformation in the epitaxial films. A model is presented to explain the thermal expansion induced distortion during the deposition process and is compared with experimental results.