This paper describes a comprehensive investigation of thick ZnTe epilayers (similar to 2.4 mu m) grown under virtually identical conditions on GaSb, InAs, InP and GaAs (1 0 0) substrates using molecular beam epitaxy. Cross-section transmission electron micrographs of the different heterostructures showed greatly reduced defect densities away from the interface region. High-resolution electron micrographs revealed a highly coherent interface with isolated dislocations for the ZnTe/GaSb sample, and showed extensive areas with well-separated interfacial misfit dislocations for the ZnTe/InAs sample. Lamer edge dislocations with Burgers' vector of (1/2)a < 1 1 0 >, as well as perfect 60 degrees dislocations, were identified at the interfaces of the ZnTe/InP and ZnTe/GaAs samples. Digital image processing based on lattice-fringe images was also used to analyze the spatial distribution of misfit dislocations at the hetero-interfaces, in particular to estimate the amount of residual strain. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.