Heterolayers of zinc telluride were created using the isovalent replacement method over the low-resistive mono-crystalline substrates of zinc selenide, doped with the isovalent tellurium impurity. It was found that the surface structure of the heterolayer is being determined by the treatment of the substrate layers and inherits its properties, namely mirror-smooth or matte (modified) surfaces. The latter type corresponds to the quantum-scale surface formations responsible for the wide unstructured spectral band with photon energies significantly exceeding the bandwidth of the materials studied. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.