The growth of epitaxial InSb layers on highly lattice mismatched GaAs substrates has been successfully achieved via the traditional liquid phase epitaxy. Details about nucleation, growth and optimization have been dealt with. High-resolution X-ray diffraction studies on the epilayers reveal all reflections with distinct layer and substrate peaks even up to a highest scattering angle of 153degrees. However, the layer peaks are considerably broader, indicating extensive dislocations. The average dislocation density was estimated from the Full-width at half-maximum of symmetric reflection. The grown films were n-type and the typical value of the sheet carrier density at 80 K obtained for these samples was 6.12 x 10(15)/cm(2). The Hall mobility at 80 K was 7.058 x 10(3) cm(2) /Vs. The room-temperature band gap was determined to be 0.198eV. Raman scattering measurements have also been performed to characterize the grown epilayers. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.