The rear side of an n type (1 0 0) Si wafer polished on one side was chosen as a substrate for CdTe thin film electrodeposition because its high density of surface non-uniformities is expected to result in a macroscopic equalization of injection conditions for electrons along the surface and subsequent uniform deposit growth. The films were grown from a plating bath containing 5 mM TeO2, 0.5 M CdSO4, 0.5 M H2SO4 and 0.5 M NH4F at a temperature of 85degreesC. The deposition potential was selected after studying the electrochemical behavior of the precursors by cyclic voltammetry. EDS analysis showed that films with near stoichiometric composition were obtained at ca. -0.575 V vs SCE. XRD showed that the as deposited films are well crystallized with a preferential orientation along the [1 1 1] cubic direction, whereas AFM images show uniform and compact morphology. XPS results revealed that Te-O bonds, mainly in the surface, are also present. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.