Silicon layers doped with tellurium up to concentration (3-5)·1020 cm-3 have been formed by ion implantation with subsequent pulsed laser annealing. It was shown that 70-90% of the introduced impurity is in the substitution position in the silicon lattice. Te hyperdoped silicon layers exhibit significant absorption (35-65%) both in the visible and near IR (1100-2500 nm) spectral ranges, and the absorption increases with increasing wavelength. The current-voltage and capacitance-voltage characteristics, as well as the photosensitivity of photodetectors based on Te-doped silicon layers have been presented and discussed. The residual structural defects in implanted Si layers have been investigated by deep-level transient spectroscopy. Keywords: silicon, hyperdoping, tellurium implantation, laser annealing, impurity subband, deep-level transient spectroscopy.