Transparent zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on various substrates using a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. During the PLD, oxygen pressure and substrate temperature were varied in order to find an optimal preparation condition of ZnO for thin film transistor (TFT) application. Dependence of optical, electrical and crystalline properties on the deposition conditions was investigated. The ZnO thin films were then deposited on SiN/c-Si layer structures in order to fabricate a TFT device. The pulsed laser deposited ZnO films showed a remarkable TFT performance: field effect mobility (mu(FE)) of 2.4-12.85 cm(2)/V s and ratio of on and off current (R-on/off) in 2-6 order range. Influence of ZnO preparation conditions on the resulting TFT performance was discussed. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.