Zn1-xMnxTe (0 less than or equal to xless than or equal to 1) epilayers were grown on the GaAs (100) substrates by hot-wall epitaxy, and their lattice constant and photoluminescence (PL) characteristics were investigated. It was found that the relation between Mn composition and the lattice constant satisfied the Vegard law. Without an external magnetic field, the excitation power and the temperature-dependence of PL were measured. The excitonic emission peak was affirmed with the Mn composition and the temperature-dependence of PL, and the donor-acceptor pair emission peak was identified with the excitation power and the temperature-dependence of PL. As the Mn composition increased, the PL intensity due to the intra-Mn+2 transition increased and the PL peak energy increase was relatively small in comparison with the near edge emission energy. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.