The influence of hard ultraviolet radiation on the crystalline structure, surface morphology and optical characteristics of CdS and CdTe semiconductor layers obtained by direct current magnetron sputtering are investigated. It was established that the optical characteristics of the studied films CdS and CdTe are insensitive to hard ultraviolet irradiation. The crystalline structure of the CdS and CdTe layers is changed after irradiation. The period of the lattice for cadmium sulfide films increases from c = 6.77(01) Å to c = 6.78(88) Å, which may be due to the formation of point defects and defective complexes. Decrease the integral FWHM of the peaks on the X-ray diffraction patterns of the layers of CdS and CdTe was observed, due to the increase of the coherent scattering regions as a result in the process of near-surface layers partial recrystallization of the investigated films.