Both the steady‐state and transient solute (impurity) concentrations at the surface of a film during its deposition are calculated as a function of deposition rate, temperature, diffusivity, bulk film solute concentration, and segregation energy. The steady‐state solute concentration at the surface is found to increase upon increasing either the solute diffusivity or the magnitude of the (negative) segregation energy, or upon decreasing the deposition rate. The transient concentration profile at the start of deposition relaxes toward the steady‐state profile as 1/t. Implications of the present results for film growth mechanisms and methods to control the degree of segregation via manipulation of deposition parameters are discussed.