Thermodynamic analysis of CdTe growth using cost-effective metallic Cd and dialkyl telluride was performed. The major vapor species at source zone in equilibrium were gaseous Cd for the group-II precursor, and Tee and H2Te for the group-VI precursors. The driving force for the CdTe deposition was still positive even at 650 degrees C. This indicates that CdTe formation from gaseous Cd can proceed thermodynamically. Furthermore, the calculations showed that CdTe decomposes at higher temperature and increasing the II/VI ratio increases the limit of the growth temperature, which coincides with the experimental results. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.