The work reports the growth of single BI3 crystals with platelets habit. Platelets were grown by physical vapor deposition (PVD) in a high vacuum atmosphere and with argon, polymer or iodine as additives. Crystals grew in the zone of maximum temperature gradient, perpendicular to the ampoule wall. Crystals grown with argon as additive show a very shining surface, have hexagonal (0 0 l) faces, sizes up to 20 x 10 mm² and thicknesses up to 100 μm. They were characterized by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Dendritic-like structures were found to be their main surface defect. SEM indicates that they grow from the staking of hexagonal unities. Electrical properties of the crystals grown under different growth conditions were determined. Resistivities up to 2 x 10¹² OMEGAcm (the best reported value for monocrystals of this material) were obtained. X-ray response was measured by irradiation of the platelets with a 241Am source of 3.5 mR/h. A comparison of results according to the growth conditions was made. Properties of the crystals grown by this method are compared with the ones measured for others previously grown from the melt. Also, results for bismuth tri-iodide platelets are compared with the ones obtained for mercuric and lead iodide platelets.

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