Bismuth telluride electrodeposition was carried out to investigate the effect of electroplating factors on the crystal orientation. It was found that the layers have a fibre crystallographic texture. The applied potential and current density have a strong effect on the chemical composition and therefore on the orientation of the electrodeposited films, According to the amount of tellurium in the deposits three types of behaviour were defined. A {10.0} crystalline crystallographic texture appeared for alloys with a very important excess of tellurium obtained at low current densities. Another preferential orientation was observed the {110} for the Te-rich layers. Finally two orientations {11.0} and {10.10} were found for Bi-rich electrodeposits, An increase in the thickness promoted sharper crystallographic textures. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.