A molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth procedure for InGaAs-based structures on GaAs (10 0) and ( I I I)B substrates is presented and discussed. The main objective of the procedure is to gain an accurate control over the growth temperature in order to ensure its precise setting and reproducibility in any MBE reactor. Growth temperature is set relative to the temperature of a system-independent reference. The reference is the transition between two static surface reconstructions as shown by the reflection high-energy electron diffraction patterns. The reference temperature is checked whenever the temperature has to be changed all over the growth of the structure. The reliability of the procedure is demonstrated by the systematic studies of the influence of the growth conditions on test samples and the reproducibility of the optimum conditions for the growth of high-quality InGaAs-based quantum well devices on both GaAs (10 0) and (I I I)B substrates. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.