CdTe films for solar cell application were prepared at various growth temperatures by a vacuum evaporation system having close spacing between the source and substrate. The CdTe thin films had a cubic structure highly oriented with the (1 1 1) direction perpendicular to the substrate surface, regardless of the growth temperature. The crystallites are of random shape and reach up to about 2 mum in size with increasing growth temperature. The higher growth temperature contributed to the reduction of dark resistivity from 6 x 10(7) Ohmcm cut at room temperature to 5.4 x 10(6) Ohmcm at 300degreesC. The photovoltaic properties of the CdS/CdTe solar cell were considerably improved with the increase in the growth temperature, which was caused by the increase of (1 11) texture and grain size in CdTe films. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.