A method of growing and fabricating a group IV-VI semiconductor structure, for use in fabricating devices. In one embodiment, the group IV-VI semiconductor structure produced by the method of the present invention includes a group IV-VI material grown on a selected orientation of [110]. The devices fabricated can be a laser, detector, solar cell, thermal electrical cooling devices, etc. A laser device produced according to the present method will have a low threshold due to the lift-off of the energy degeneracy and low defect density. Growth on the [110] orientation also allows epitaxial growth of the semiconductor structure on a dissimilar substrate, which could improve the thermal dissipation and thus increase the operating temperature of the laser device.