GaAs growth by atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) from tertiarybutylarsine (TBA) and triethylgallium (TEG) in a chemical beam epitaxy (CBE) system is reported. A stable 4×8 surface reconstruction has been observed after Ga deposition at low substrate temperatures in the absence of TBA flux. The TEG reaction rate at the sample surface has been found to be lower under ALE conditions than under CBE growth conditions. No decay in the reflection high‐energy electron diffraction intensity was observed after the ALE growth of 700 monolayers of GaAs at 550 °C. Grown samples exhibitp‐type doping in the range of 1015cm−3. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.