Single-layer Fe films 800 Å thick, with and without a 10-Å-thick Ag buffer layer, were prepared at various growtht emperature,T <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">g</sub> , on GaAs(001) substrates by molecular-beam epitaxy. For T <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">g</sub> around 200 °C, high-quality single crystal films were obtained without the Ag buffer layer. For T <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">g</sub> ⩽100 °C, a defect structure was observed in the iron layer. However, the addition of an ultrathin Ag buffer layer between GaAs and Fe has the desirable effects of eliminating the defect structure and significantly enhancing the FMR absorption.