CuIn3Te5 films were grown by stepwise flash evaporation from powder CuIn3Te5 source. X-ray diffraction and particle induced X-ray emission analyses confirmed the phase purity and compositional homogeneity of the source material. Transmission electron microscopy studies showed that CuIn3Te5 films are single-phase and polycrystalline in nature. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry studies revealed that the films are near stoichiometric. Optical transmittance analysis yielded a band gap of similar to 1.03 +/- 0.02 eV for CuIn3Te5 films, which is in close agreement with the value reported for bulk CuIn3T5. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.