Structural analysis of epitaxial layers of the (Ga,Mn)(Bi,As) quaternary dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS), together with investigations of their magnetotransport properties, has been thoroughly performed. The obtained results are compared with those for the reference (Ga,Mn)As layers, grown under similar conditions, with the aim to reveal an impact of Bi incorporation on the properties of this DMS material. Incorporation of Bi into GaAs strongly enhances the spin-orbit coupling strength in this semiconductor, and the same has been expected for the (Ga,Mn)(Bi,As) alloy. In turn, importantly for specific spintronic applications, strong spin-orbit coupling in ferromagnetic systems opens a possibility of directly controlling the direction of magnetization by the electric current. Our investigations, performed with high-resolution X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy, demonstrate that the (Ga,Mn)(Bi,As) layers of high structural quality and smooth interfaces can be grown by means of the low-temperature molecular-beam epitaxy method, despite a large difference between the sizes of Bi and As atoms. Depending on the applied buffer layer, the DMS layers can be grown under either compressive or tensile misfit strain, which influences their magnetic properties. It is shown that even small 1% Bi content in the layers strongly affects their magnetoelectric properties, such as the coercive field and anisotropic magnetoresistance.

The impact of bismuth incorporation into the epitaxial layer of a (Ga,Mn)As dilute ferromagnetic semiconductor on its magnetic and electromagnetic properties is studied in very thin layers of quaternary (Ga,Mn)(Bi,As) compound grown on a GaAs substrate under a compressive misfit strain. An addition of a small atomic fraction of 1% Bi atoms, substituting As atoms in the layer, predominantly enhances the spin-orbit coupling strength in its valence band. The presence of bismuth results in a small decrease in the ferromagnetic Curie temperature and a distinct increase in the coercive fields. On the other hand, the Bi incorporation into the layer strongly enhances the magnitude of negative magnetoresistance without affecting the hole concentration in the layer. The negative magnetoresistance is interpreted in terms of the suppression of weak localization in a magnetic field. Application of the weak-localization theory for two-dimensional ferromagnets by Dugaev et al. to the experimental magnetoresistance results indicates that the decrease in spin-orbit scattering length accounts for the enhanced magnetoresistance in (Ga,Mn)(Bi,As).

Pulsed current-induced magnetization reversal is investigated in the layer of (Ga,Mn)(Bi,As) dilute ferromagnetic semiconductor (DFS) epitaxially grown under tensile misfit strain causing perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in the layer. The magnetization reversal, recorded through measurements of the anomalous Hall effect, appearing under assistance of a static magnetic field parallel to the current, is interpreted in terms of the spin-orbit torque mechanism. Our results demonstrate that an addition of a small fraction of heavy Bi atoms, substituting As atoms in the prototype DFS (Ga,Mn)As and increasing the strength of spin-orbit coupling in the DFS valence band, significantly enhances the efficiency of current-induced magnetization reversal thus reducing considerably the threshold current density necessary for the reversal. Our findings are of technological importance for applications to spin-orbit torque-driven nonvolatile memory and logic elements. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.

We have thoroughly investigated the planar Hall effect (PHE) in the epitaxial layers of the quaternary compound (Ga,Mn)(Bi,As). The addition of a small amount of heavy Bi atoms to the prototype dilute ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As enhances significantly the spin-orbit coupling strength in its valence band, which essentially modifies certain magnetoelectric properties of the material. Our investigations demonstrate that an addition of just 1% Bi atomic fraction, substituting As atoms in the (Ga,Mn)As crystal lattice, causes an increase in the PHE magnitude by a factor of 2.5. Moreover, Bi incorporation into the layers strongly enhances their coercive fields and uniaxial magneto-crystalline anisotropy between the in-plane < 110 & rang; crystallographic directions in the layers grown under a compressive misfit strain. The displayed two-state behaviour of the PHE resistivity at zero magnetic field, which may be tuned by the control of applied field orientation, could be useful for application in spintronic devices, such as nonvolatile memory elements.

The Lorentz off-axis electron holography technique is applied to study the magnetic nature of Mn rich nanoprecipitates in (Mn,Ga) As system. The effectiveness of this technique is demonstrated in detection of the magnetic field even for small nanocrystals having an average size down to 20 nm.

Here we report on detailed studies of the magnetic properties of the wurtzite (Ga,Mn)As cylindrical shells. Ga0.94Mn0.06As shells have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy at low temperature as a part of multishell cylinders overgrown on wurtzite (Ga,In)As nanowires cores, synthesized on GaAs (111)B substrates. Our studies clearly indicate the presence of a low temperature ferromagnetic coupling, which despite a reasonably high Mn contents of 6% is limited only to below 30 K. A set of dedicated measurements shows that despite a high structural quality of the material the magnetic order has a granular form, which gives rise to the dynamical slowdown characteristic to blocked superparamagnets. The lack of the long range order has been assigned to a very low hole density, caused primarily by numerous compensation donors, arsenic antisites, formed in the material due to a specific geometry of the growth of the shells on the nanowire template. The associated electrostatic disorder has formed a patchwork of spontaneously magnetized (macrospin) and nonmagnetic (paramagnetic) volumes in the material. Using high field results it has been evaluated that the total volume taken by the macrospins constitute about 2/3 of the volume of the (Ga,Mn)As whereas in the remaining 1/3 only paramagnetic Mn ions reside. By establishing the number of the uncoupled ions the two contributions were separated. The Arrott plot method applied to the superparamagnetic part yielded the first experimental assessment of the magnitude of the spin-spin coupling temperature within the macrospins in (Ga,Mn)As, TC = 28 K. In a broader view our results constitute an important contribution to the still ongoing dispute on the true and the dominant form(s) of the magnetism in this model dilute ferromagnetic semiconductor.

The high-spectral-resolution optical studies of the energy gap evolution, supplemented with electronic, magnetic, and structural characterization, show that the modification of the GaAs valence band caused by Mn incorporation occurs already for a very low Mn content, much lower than that required to support ferromagnetic spin-spin coupling in (Ga,Mn) As. Only for n-type (Ga,Mn) As with the Mn content below about 0.3% the Mn-related extended states are visible as a feature detached from the valence-band edge and partly occupied with electrons. The combined magnetic and low-temperature photoreflectance studies presented here indicate that the paramagnetic <-> ferromagnetic transformation in p-type (Ga,Mn) As takes place without imposing changes of the unitary character of the valence band with the Fermi level located therein. The whole process is rooted in the nanoscale fluctuations of the local (hole) density of states and the formation of a superparamagnetic-like state. The Fermi level in (Ga,Mn) As is coarsened by the carrier concentration of the itinerant valence band holes and further fine-tuned by the many-body interactions.

The impact of hydrostatic pressure on magnetic anisotropy energies in (Ga, Mn) As thin films with in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic easy axes predefined by epitaxial strain was investigated. In both types of sample we observed a clear increase in both in-plane and out-of-plane anisotropy parameters with pressure. The out-of-plane anisotropy constant is well reproduced by the mean-field p-d Zener model; however, the changes in uniaxial anisotropy are much larger than expected in the Mn-Mn dimer scenario.

The influence of hydrostatic pressure on the Curie temperature T-C of thin ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As layers is studied. New experimental data unambiguously point to both positive and negative pressure-induced changes of Curie temperature. The positive pressure coefficient is observed for samples with relatively high values of T-C and can be quantitatively described by the p-d Zener model of carrier-mediated ferromagnetism within the six-band k . p formalism and the ab initio approach. First-principles calculations of structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of (Ga,Mn)As show that antiferromagnetic coupling of substitutional Mn atoms with interstitial ones may account for a decrease of T-C under pressure in samples having a substantial concentration of interstitial Mn.

We report on the experimental realization of Pb_1-xSn_x Te pentagonal nanowires (NWs) with [110] orientation using molecular beam epitaxy techniques. Using first-principles calculations, we investigate the structural stability of NWs of SnTe and PbTe in three different structural phases: cubic, pentagonal with [001] orientation and pentagonal with [110] orientation. Within a semiclassical approach, we show that the interplay between ionic and covalent bonds favors the formation of pentagonal NWs. Additionally, we find that this pentagonal structure is more likely to occur in tellurides than in selenides. The disclination and twin boundary cause the electronic states originating from the NW core region to generate a conducting band connecting the valence and conduction bands, creating a symmetry-enforced metallic phase. The metallic core band has opposite slopes in the cases of Sn and Te twin boundaries, while the bands from the shell are insulating. We finally study the electronic and topological properties of pentagonal NWs unveiling their potential as a new platform for higher-order topology and fractional charge. These pentagonal NWs represent a unique case of intrinsic core-shell one-dimensional nanostructures with distinct structural, electronic and topological properties between the core and the shell region. (a) Scanning transmission electron microscopy image of a pentagonal nanowire; the inset shows the disclination and core chain (CC). The red bands from the core connect the valence and conduction bands for (b) cation and (c) anion twin-boundaries.

Nearly a 30% increase in the ferromagnetic phase transition temperature has been achieved in strained MnAs nanocrystals embedded in a wurtzite GaAs matrix. Wurtzite GaAs exerts tensile stress on hexagonal MnAs nanocrystals, preventing a hexagonal to orthorhombic structural phase transition, which in bulk MnAs is combined with the magnetic one. This effect results in a remarkable shift of the magneto-structural phase transition temperature from 313 K in the bulk MnAs to above 400 K in the tensely strained MnAs nanocrystals. This finding is corroborated by the state of the art transmission electron microscopy, sensitive magnetometry, and the first-principles calculations. The effect relies on defining a nanotube geometry of molecular beam epitaxy grown core-multishell wurtzite (Ga,In)As/(Ga,Al)As/(Ga,Mn)As/GaAs nanowires, where the MnAs nanocrystals are formed during the thermal-treatment-induced phase separation of wurtzite (Ga,Mn)As into the GaAs-MnAs granular system. Such a unique combination of two types of hexagonal lattices provides a possibility of attaining quasi-hydrostatic tensile strain in MnAs (impossible otherwise), leading to the substantial ferromagnetic phase transition temperature increase in this compound.

The contribution of the Mn 3d states to the valence band of Ga_0.98Mn_0.02Sb, an important factor determining the properties of this system, including the mechanism responsible for the magnetic characteristics, has been revealed by photoelectron spectroscopy. The resonant photoemission experiment, carried out for photon energies close to the Mn 3d -> 3p excitation, allowed us to identify the spectral feature corresponding to emission from the Mn 3d states. The scanning of the valence band along the [100] direction of the Brillouin zone, by the angle-resolved photoemission experiment, showed that these states contributed to a dispersionless structure at the binding energy of 3.6 eV (with respect to the Fermi energy). The revealed shape of the Mn 3d contribution is consistent with the supposition that the p-d exchange interaction prevails as a mechanism supporting ferromagnetism in Ga_1-xMn_xSb.

The core-multishell wurtzite structure (In, Ga) As-(Ga, Al) As-(Ga, Mn) As semiconductor nanowires have been successfully grown on GaAs(111) B substrates using MBE technique. The nanowires cores were grown with gold eutectic catalyser in vapour-liquid-solid growth mode. The double shell overgrowth, on the side facets of nanowires, was performed using lower substrate temperature (about 400 degrees C, and 230 degrees C, for (Ga, Al) As, and (Ga, Mn) As shell growth, respectively). The polytypic ordering, defects, chemistry and geometric perfection of the core and the shells have been analysed at atomic level by advanced transmission electron microscope techniques with the use of axial and longitudinal section of individual nanowires prepared by focused ion beam. High quality cross-sections suitable for quantitative transmission electron microscope analysis have been obtained and enabled analysis of interfaces between the core and the shells with near atomic resolution. All investigated shells are epitaxial without misfit dislocations at the interface. Some of the shells thicknesses are not symmetric, which is due to the shadowing effects of neighbouring nanowires and directional character of the elemental fluxes in the MBE growth process.

We critically discuss various experimental methods to determine Curie temperature T-C of (Ga,Mn)As thin layers or other conducing magnetic materials by means of electric charge transport measurements. They all base on the influence of sample magnetization on the magnetoresistivity tensor <(rho)overcap>and are an alternative to the method based upon an analysis of the temperature derivative of the sample resistance (Novak a al., 2008). These methods can be applied even when standard SQUID magnetometers are difficult or impossible to use - for example for extremely small samples or in the case of experiments performed at very specific physical conditions, e.g. at high hydrostatic pressure inside the clamp cell. We show that the use of the so called Arrott plot prepared with the use of high magnetic field isotherms rho(xx)(H-0), rho(x)y(H-0) (H-0 - external magnetic field) may lead to substantial (of the order of 10 K) divergence of the obtained T-c values depending on the assumptions which are necessary to make in this case and depending on the direction of a magnetic anisotropy easy axis. We also propose a number of ways how to obtain, basing on low magnetic field isotherms rho(xx)(H-0), rho(xy)(H-0) clear and characteristic features which are closely related to the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic phase transition.

Ferromagnetic semiconductor thin layers of the quaternary (Ga,Mn)(Bi,As) and reference, ternary (Ga, Mn) As compounds, epitaxially grown under either compressive or tensile strain, have been characterized from a perspective of structural and magnetization homogeneity. The quality and composition of the layers have been confirmed by secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). A thorough evaluation of the magnetic properties as a function of temperature and applied magnetic field has been performed by means of SQUID magnetometry and low-energy muon spin relaxation (mu SR) spectroscopy, which enables studying local (on the nanometer scale) magnetic properties of the layers. The results testify that the ferromagnetic order builds up almost homogeneously below the Curie temperature in the full volume fraction of both the (Ga, Mn) As and (Ga, Mn)(Bi, As) layers. Incorporation of a small amount of heavy Bi atoms into (Ga, Mn) As, which distinctly enhances the strength of spin-orbit coupling in the quaternary (Ga, Mn)(Bi, As) layers, does not deteriorate noticeably their magnetic properties.

Diluted ferromagnetic semiconductors combining ferromagnetic and semiconducting properties in one material provide numerous new functionalities, attractive for basic studies and potentially useful for novel device applications. The tailoring of the electronic structure in analogy to conventional semiconductors has yet to be explored. Here, we demonstrate the conservation of broken inversion symmetry and band structure tailoring for high-quality molecular-beam-epitaxy-grown (In,Ga,Mn)As films with 3% In plus 2.5% or 5.6% Mn using hard-x-ray photoelectron diffraction (hXPD) and momentum microscopy. Photon energies of 3-5 keV ensure that the results are not corrupted by surface effects, which are known to be strong in semiconductors. The missing inversion center of the GaAs host lattice leads to fingerprint-like hXPD signatures of As and Ga sites. For both concentrations, Mn predominantly occupies Ga substitutional sites. Momentum microscopy reveals a shift of the chemical potential with increasing Mn doping and a highly dispersing band, crossing the Fermi level for high Mn concentration. The Mn doping induces a pronounced modification of the spin-orbit split-off band.

The growth of Bi on both the In-terminated (A) face and the As-terminated (B) face of InAs(111) has been investigated by low-energy electron diffraction, scanning tunnelling microscopy, and photoelectron spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation. The changes upon Bi deposition of the In 4d and Bi 5d(5/2) photoelectron signals allow to get a comprehensive picture of the Bi/InAs(111) interface. From the early stage the Bi growth on the A face is epitaxial, contrary to that on the B face that proceeds via the formation of islands. Angle-resolved photoelectron spectra show that the electronic structure of a Bi deposit of approximate to 10 bi-layers on the A face is identical to that of bulk Bi, while more than approximate to 30 bi-layers are needed for the B face. Both bulk and surface electronic states observed are well accounted for by fully relativistic ab initio calculations performed using the one-step model of photoemission. These calculations are used to analyse the dichroic photoemission data recorded in the vicinity of the Fermi level around the (Gamma) over bar point of the Brillouin zone.

Thin layers of transition metal dichalcogenides have been intensively studied over the last few years due to their novel physical phenomena and potential applications. One of the biggest problems in laboratory handling and moving on to application-ready devices lies in the high sensitivity of their physicochemical properties to ambient conditions. We demonstrate that novel,in situcapping with an ultra-thin, aluminum film efficiently protects thin MoTe(2)layers stabilizing their electronic transport properties after exposure to ambient conditions. The experiments have been performed on bilayers of 2H-MoTe(2)grown by molecular beam epitaxy on large area GaAs(111)B substrates. The crystal structure, surface morphology and thickness of the deposited MoTe(2)layers have been precisely controlledin situwith a reflection high energy electron diffraction system. As evidenced by high resolution transmission electron microscopy, MoTe(2)films exhibit perfect arrangement in the 2H phase and the epitaxial relation to the GaAs(111)B substrates. After the growth, the samples werein situcapped with a thin (3 nm) film of aluminum, which oxidizes after exposure to ambient conditions. This oxide serves as a protective layer to the underlying MoTe2. Resistivity measurements of the MoTe(2)layers with and without the cap, exposed to low vacuum, nitrogen and air, revealed a huge difference in their stability. The significant rise of resistance is observed for the unprotected sample while the resistance of the protected one is constant. Wide range temperature resistivity studies showed that charge transport in MoTe(2)is realized by hopping with an anomalous hopping exponent ofx similar or equal to 0.66, reported also previously for ultra-thin, metallic layers.

Monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides(TMDs) manifest exceptional optical properties related to narrow excitonic resonances. However, these properties have been so far explored only for structures produced by techniques inducing considerable large-scale inhomogeneity. In contrast, techniques which are essentially free from this disadvantage, such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), have to date yielded only structures characterized by considerable spectral broadening, which hinders most of the interesting optical effects. Here, we report for the firsttime on the MBE-grown TMD exhibiting narrow and resolved spectral lines of neutral and charged exciton. Moreover, our material exhibits unprecedented high homogeneity of optical properties, with variation of the exciton energy as small as ±0.16 meV over a distance of tens of micrometers. Our recipe for MBE growth is presented for MoSe2 and includes the use of atomically flat hexagonal boron nitride substrate. This recipe opens a possibility of producing TMD heterostructures with optical quality, dimensions, and homogeneity required for optoelectronic applications.

Thin crystalline layers of TaAs Weyl semimetal are grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs(001) substrates. The (001) planes of the tetragonal TaAs lattice are parallel to the GaAs(001) substrate, but the corresponding in-plane crystallographic directions of the substrate and the layer are rotated by 45 degrees. In spite of a substantial lattice mismatch (about 19%) between the GaAs(001) substrate and TaAs epilayer, no misfit dislocations are observed at the GaAs(001)/TaAs(001) interface. Only stacking fault defects in TaAs are detected by transmission electron microscopy. Thorough X-ray diffraction measurements and analysis of the in situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction images indicate that TaAs layers are fully relaxed already at the initial deposition stage. Atomic force microscopy imaging reveals the columnar structure of the layers, with lateral (parallel to the layer's surface) columns about 20 nm wide and 200 nm long. Both X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy measurements indicate that the columns share the same orientation and crystalline structure.

SnTe topological crystalline insulator nanowires have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy on graphene/SiC substrates. The nanowires have a cubic rock-salt structure, they grow along the [001] crystallographic direction and have four sidewalls consisting of {100} crystal planes known to host metallic surface states with a Dirac dispersion. Thorough high resolution transmission electron microscopy investigations show that the nanowires grow on graphene in the van der Waals epitaxy mode induced when the catalyzing Au nanoparticles mix with Sn delivered from a SnTe flux, providing a liquid Au-Sn alloy. The nanowires are totally free from structural defects, but their {001} sidewalls are prone to oxidation, which points out the necessity of depositing a protective capping layer in view of exploiting the magneto-electric transport phenomena involving charge carriers occupying topologically protected states.

Incorporation of Bi into GaAs-(Ga,Al)As-Ga(As,Bi) core-shell nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy is studied with transmission electron microscopy. Nanowires are grown on GaAs(111)B substrates with Au-droplet assisted mode. Bi-doped shells are grown at low temperature (300 degrees C) with a close to stoichiometric Ga/As flux ratio. At low Bi fluxes, the Ga(As,Bi) shells are smooth, with Bi completely incorporated into the shells. Higher Bi fluxes (Bi/As flux ratio similar to 4%) led to partial segregation of Bi as droplets on the nanowires sidewalls, preferentially located at the nanowire segments with wurtzite structure. We demonstrate that such Bi droplets on the sidewalls act as catalysts for the growth of branches perpendicular to the GaAs trunks. Due to the tunability between zinc-blende and wurtzite polytypes by changing the nanowire growth conditions, this effect enables fabrication of branched nanowire architectures with branches generated from selected (wurtzite) nanowire segments.

(Ga,Mn)As having a wurtzite crystal structure was coherently grown by molecular beam epitaxy on the 1100 side facets of wurtzite (Ga,In)As nanowires and further encapsulated by (Ga,Al)As and low temperature GaAs. For the first time, a truly long-range ferromagnetic magnetic order is observed in non-planar (Ga,Mn)As, which is attributed to a more effective hole confinement in the shell containing Mn by the proper selection/choice of both the core and outer shell materials. © The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Historically, comprehensive studies of dilute ferromagnetic semiconductors, e.g., p-type (Cd,Mn) Te and (Ga,Mn) As, paved the way for a quantitative theoretical description of effects associated with spin-orbit interactions in solids, such as crystalline magnetic anisotropy. In particular, the theory was successful in explaining uniaxial magnetic anisotropies associated with biaxial strain and nonrandom formation of magnetic dimers in epitaxial (Ga,Mn) As layers. However, the situation appears much less settled in the case of the cubic term: the theory predicts switchings of the easy axis between in-plane < 100 > and < 110 > directions as a function of the hole concentration, whereas only the < 100 > orientation has been found experimentally. Here, we report on the observation of such switchings by magnetization and ferromagnetic resonance studies on a series of high-crystalline quality (Ga,Mn) As films. We describe our findings by themean-field p-d Zener model augmented with three new ingredients. The first one is a scattering broadening of the hole density of states, which reduces significantly the amplitude of the alternating carrier-induced contribution. This opens the way for the two other ingredients, namely the so-far disregarded single-ion magnetic anisotropy and disorder-driven nonuniformities of the carrier density, both favoring the < 100 > direction of the apparent easy axis. However, according to our results, when the disorder gets reduced, a switching to the < 110 > orientation is possible in a certain temperature and hole concentration range.

Hexagonal boron nitride has already been proven to serve as a decent substrate for high quality epitaxial growth of several 2D materials, such as graphene, MoSe2, MoS2 or WSe2. Here, we present for the first time the molecular beam epitaxy growth of MoTe2 on atomically smooth hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) substrate. Occurrence of MoTe2 in various crystalline phases such as distorted octahedral 1T' phase with semimetal properties or hexagonal 2H phase with semiconducting properties opens a possibility of realization of crystal -phase homostructures with tunable properties. Atomic force microscopy studies of MoTe2 grown in a single monolayer regime enable us to observe impact of growth conditions on formation of various structures: flat grains, net of one-dimensional structures, quasi continuous monolayers with bilayer contribution. Comparison of the distribution of the thickness with Poisson distribution shows that tested growth conditions favorite formation of grains with monolayer thickness. The diffusion constant of MoTe2 grown on hBN can reach order of 10-6 cm2/s for typical growth conditions. Raman spectroscopy results suggest a coexistence of various phases with domination of 2H MoTe2 for samples grown at lower temperatures. XPS measurements confirm the stoichiometry of MoTe2.

The lattice mismatch between interesting 2D materials and commonly available 3D substrates is one of the obstacles in the epitaxial growth of monolithic 2D/3D heterostructures, but a number of 2D materials have not yet been considered for epitaxy. Here, we present the first molecular beam epitaxy growth of a NiTe2 2D transition-metal dichalcogenide. Importantly, the growth is realized on a nearly lattice-matched GaAs(111)B substrate. Structural properties of the grown layers are investigated by electron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, and scanning tunneling microscopy. Surface coverage and atomic-scale order are evidenced by images obtained with atomic force, scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy. Basic transport properties were measured confirming that the NiTe2 layers are metallic, with a Hall concentration of 10(20) to 10(23) cm(-3), depending on the growth conditions.

Challenges and opportunities arising from molecular beam epitaxial growth of topological crystalline insulator heterostructures composed of a rock-salt SnTe(001) layer of varying thickness (from 80 nm to 1000 nm) and a zinc blende 4 mu m thick CdTe(001) buffer layer grown on a commercial GaAs(001) substrate with 2 degrees off-cut toward the [100] direction were studied with a focus on crystal lattice strain, unit cell symmetry breaking and surface quality. The results indicate that the CdTe buffer is almost fully relaxed whereas in SnTe layers slight anisotropic relaxation is observed that varies from 86.2% to 98.3% with the layer thickness increasing. The relaxation process involves formation of misfit dislocations, mainly of Lomer-type (consisting of two associated 60 degrees dislocations), both at CdTe/GaAs and SnTe/CdTe interfaces. Azimuthal spatial distribution of defects is anisotropic due to a disparity of 60 degrees dislocation mobility toward orthogonal [-110] and [110] crystallographic directions. This results in a monoclinic distortion of the SnTe unit cell, as observed especially in the layers grown without additional Te molecular flux. A reflections selection method is proposed to measure such crystal deformations. Qualitatively new morphology of the SnTe surface of a reduced symmetry with nanoripple-like structures oriented close to the 100 (or, rarely, to 120) crystallographic in-plane direction is observed. The possible mechanism of their formation is dislocation-driven while their extended shape and predominant crystalline orientation may be influenced by the anisotropy of defect azimuthal distribution. Due to the magnitude of measured lattice strain (similar to 10(-3)) the monoclinic distortion in SnTe(001) layers is expected to be large enough to affect their physical properties, e.g., offering the way of controlling the crystal-symmetry-protected surface states (deformation-induced opening of the energy gap in the spectrum of metallic topological surface states). Thus, it may serve as an additional degree of freedom in designing topological spintronic devices.