The phase-transition temperature of MnAs epitaxial films grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on GaAs(001) with different crystalline accommodations was studied by specular and grazing incidence x-ray diffraction. The transition temperature of MnAs films with tilted hexagonal c-axis orientations with respect to the GaAs substrate is higher than the most investigated nontilted films and reaches a value above room temperature, which is more suitable for device applications. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.851222502252