The electrical properties of the non-irradiated and electron-irradiated structures, containing polycrystalline thin layers of CdSe and US, sandwiched between two golden electrodes, were investigated. The thin films of CdSe and US were obtained through thermal-vacuum evaporation on the glass substrate at a temperature of 220degreesC. After the investigation of their structure by X-ray diffraction (XRD), the samples were subjected to two sessions of irradiation with 7 MeV electrons to different fluences. The current-voltage characteristics, recorded at temperatures in the range 150-400 K, showed that the Ohm's law is followed at low-applied voltages, in both non-irradiated and irradiated CdSe and US layers. In the range of high-applied voltages, the space-charge-limited-current (SCLC), controlled by different types of trap distribution, placed in the band gap of the semiconducting layer, has been identified as the dominant conduction mechanism. An analysis in the frame of SCLC theory allowed us to obtain the parameters characterizing the trap distributions and the changes induced by electron irradiation. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.