We report a two‐step growth process, using an atomic layer epitaxially grown GaAs predeposition layer for the growth of GaAs/Si layers by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy technique. Photoluminescence and deep‐level transient spectroscopy techniques are used to show that the quality of the grown material is comparable to that grown by a much complicated procedure involving strained layer superlattice buffers introduced between the active GaAs layer and the Si substrate. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.