Many group II sulphides semiconductors have the rocksalt structure as their stable crystal structure. In the case of MgS and MnS, it has been demonstrated that these compounds can be grown in the metastable zinc-blende structure using a simple MBE growth procedure that can increase the thickness of these metastable layers to over 130 nm. In this paper, we review the growth method and features which arise during the growth of both MgS and MnS, namely the development parallel surface ridges and the loss of the zinc-blende crystal structure. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.