In this paper we describe a low substrate temperature CdTe fabrication process by vacuum evaporation (VE) where the recrystallization step avoids the use of CdCl2, which is a carcinogenic material. In our process CdS and CdTe are deposited at pressures of 10(-6) mbar in the same chamber by thermal evaporation and with substrate temperature of 150 degrees C and 340 degrees C, respectively. The CdTe/CdS/TCO stacks are then put in a quartz chamber and, after having previously pumped the chamber down to 10(-5) mbar, a controlled mixture of argon and chlorine containing gas is fluxed with a substrate temperature in a range between 400 degrees C and 450 degrees C. The morphological properties of the single layers are studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), cathodo-luminescence (CL) and the electrical properties of the finished devices are presented by means of current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.