PbSe thin film was grown on a patterned Si substrate with (1 1 1)-orientation by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE). On the mesa, a low dislocation density of 9 x 10(5) cm(-2) was confirmed by the etch-pits density (EPD) wet-etching technique. The photoluminescence (PL) intensity at room temperature from the low dislocation PbSe film was much higher than that from the PbSe film grown on the planar area, which further indicated the high-quality of PbSe thin film grown on patterned Si substrate. Published by Elsevier B.V.