A study of the physical properties of CdTe thin films doped with Bi is presented. CdTe:Bi thin films were deposited by the close space vapor transport (CSVT) technique using powdered CdTe:Bi crystals grown by the vertical Bridgman method. CdTe:Bi crystals were obtained with nominal Bi doping concentrations varying in the 1 x 10(17)-8 x 10(18) cm(-3) range. The physical properties of CdTe:Bi thin films were studied performing photoluminescence, X-ray, SEM, photoacoustic spectroscopy and resistivity measurements. We observed a decrease of the resistivity values of CdTe:Bi films with the Bi content as low as 6 x 10(5) Omega-cm for Bi concentrations of 8 x 10(18) cm(-3). These are meaningful results for CdTe-based solar cells. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.