We report a novel technique for growing GaAs on Si substrates with a low density of threading dislocations. The process involves patterning a 200 nm period sawtooth grating on (100) Si using a combination of holographic lithography and wet chemical etching. The GaAs layers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on such substrates exhibit a dramatic reduction in the density of threading misfit dislocations, even when the grown layers are thin. Twins and stacking faults are also reduced dramatically by eitherinsituthermal‐cycle growth orexsiturapid thermal annealing.