The properties of CdTe have been evaluated by investigating the pulse‐height response of surface‐barrier devices to monoenergetic alpha particles incident normal to the surface. The energy &egr; required to form a hole‐electron pair was found to be 4.65±0.2 eV. The count rate efficiency and energy resolution that have been obtained indicate that crystals can be grown without major fluctuations in the densities of trapping or recombination centers. The effective lifetime values within the high field regions range from less than 10−9sec to 4×10−8sec for holes and electrons. These values represent a marked increase over the previously established value of 10−10sec.