We performed a systematic study of the native stacking fault density in ZnSe/GaAs(001) heterostructures implemented using several of the interface fabrication procedures proposed in the literature. Only two of the procedures examined reproducibly lead to stacking fault densities below 10(4) cm(-2). Despite the apparent differences, the two procedures were found to yield quantitatively similar defect densities, and qualitatively similar interface compositions and band alignments. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.