The paper reports the fabrication and detailed electrical characterization of thermal evaporated n-Si/p-ZnTe thin film heterojunction diodes. The heterojunction diodes were prepared by depositing ZnTe films on n-Si substrates. The conduction mechanism, barrier height, space charge density and width of the depletion region were determined by I-V and C-V characteristics of the heterojunction diodes. The bandgap and activation energies of n-Si and p-ZnTe were also determined and a theoretical band diagram of n-Si/p-ZnTe heterojunction was drawn based on Anderson's model. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.