Cadmium sulfide implanted with bismuth at room temperature has been investigated. The sputtering efficiency was measured and related to the saturated bismuth concentration in the implanted layer. Etching experiments were performed to determine the role of the high surface concentration of the implanted bismuth and the visibly discolored damage region that results from the implantation. Diodes were fabricated and their forward‐biased characteristic studied. It was found that thep‐type behavior of the implanted layer was not confined to the visibly damaged surface layer. A critical minimum dose was necessary to observep‐type behavior.