A solution growth process is employed for deposition of the pure and antimony-doped CdSe thin films with Sb3+ doping concentration from 0.005 to 5 mol%. Cadmium sulphate, sodium selenosulphite (refluxed) and antimony trichloride were the basic starting materials. The samples were deposited at 60degreesC in an aqueous alkaline medium and were analysed spectrophotometrically, before characterizing them through the structural, microscopic, optical, and transport characterization techniques. The terminal thickness was found to increase with the Sb3+ content from 0 to 0.1mol% and for further increase in Sb3+ concentration up to 5 mol%, the thickness decreased. The as-deposited films were found to be polycrystalline with the hexagonal wurtzite structure. The optical absorption studies gave a high coefficient of absorption (alpha = 10(4) cm(-1)) with an allowed direct type of transitions. The optical energy gap (E-g) decreased typically from 1.79 to 1.61 eV as the doping concentration (Sb3+) was increased from 0 to 0.1 mol% and then it increased at higher doping levels. Electrical conductivity measurements revealed two types of conduction mechanisms, namely grain boundary scattering limited and a variable range hopping conduction. These studies showed that electrical conductivity increased with antimony content in CdSe from 0 to 0.1 mol% and then decreased for higher values of the Sb3+ contents. The thermoelectric power measurements showed that the thermally generated voltage was of the order of several microvolts and samples exhibited n-type conduction. The carrier concentration (n), mobility (mu) and intergrain barrier potentials (Phi(B)'S) were computed and it was found that the carrier concentration has a poor variation with Sb3+ concentration and temperature, whereas the carrier mobility is a sensitive function of both. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.