The use of surfactants that do not themselves act as dopants and are isoelectronic with either the group III or group V host atoms during OMVPE growth significantly reduces the incorporation of background impurities such as carbon, oxygen, sulfur and/or silicon. For example, the use of the surfactants Sb or Bi significantly reduces the incorporation of background impurities such as carbon, oxygen, sulfur and/or silicon during the OMVPE growth of III/V semiconductor materials, for example GaAs, GaInP, and GaP layers. As a result, an effective method for controlling the incorporation of impurity atoms is adding a minute amount of surfactant during OMVPE growth.