The quality of Cd chalcodenides epitaxial films can be enhanced seriously by applying a pulsed (electron beam or laser beam) method for ablation of targets. The structure of laser deposited CdTe layers was investigated by transmission high energy electron diffraction. This method is very useful for detection of two kinds of three-dimensional structural defects: (1) inclusions of a second crystallographic phase (2) twinnings. Layers investigated exhibit pure sphalerite phase and contain some amount of twins of the type {111}. The amount of defects depends strongly on the technological variables (like substrate temperature, crystallisation rate, etc.) of the deposition process. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.