The addition of elevated temperature steps (annealing) during the growth of InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) structures on Si substrates results in significant improvements in their structural and optical properties and laser device performance. This is shown to result from an increased efficacy of the dislocation filter layers (DFLs); reducing the density of dislocations that arise at the Si/III-V interface which reach the active region. The addition of two annealing steps gives a greater than three reduction in the room temperature threshold current of a 1.3 μm emitting QD laser on Si. The active region of structures grown on Si have a room temperature residual tensile strain of 0.17%, consistent with cool down from the growth temperature and the different Si and GaAs thermal expansion coefficients. This strain limits the amount of III-V material that can be grown before relaxation occurs.