A study of the "composition-pulling or lattice-latching" effect has been done for the case of GaInP epitaxial layers grown on GaAs and GaInAs substrates. The layers were grown simultaneously on two different substrates placed side by side under the same liquid solution. The layers were characterized by photoluminescence, secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) and X-ray diffraction. The chemical compositions of the layers were different for samples grown on substrates with different lattice constant. Moreover, the thickness of the epitaxial and of the transition layers also depends on the kind of substrate. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.