Thin films of potassium tantalate niobate KTa0.6Nb0.4O3 (KTN) were grown by pulsed laser deposition on five different substrates suitable for microwave devices: (100)MgO, (100)LaAlO3, (1-102)sapphire (R-plane), (0001)sapphire (C-plane) and alumina. The high volatility of potassium at the film growth temperature required the addition of an excess of potassium to the ablation target. For optimized deposition conditions, Rutherford backscattering showed that the KTN films had a 1 : 1 atomic ratio for K:(Nb+Ta). As grown KTN thin films were single-phase, without any particular orientation on sintered alumina, whereas an epitaxial growth with the (100) orientation was achieved on (100)MgO and (100)LaAlO3 with a mosaicity Delta omega((100)KTN) close to 0.7 degrees-1.5 degrees and similar to 0.4 degrees-0.9 degrees, respectively, attesting a high crystalline quality. In contrast, growth of KTN on R-plane sapphire results in a texture with the (100) orientation and the presence of the (110) orientation as a secondary one. The room temperature measurements carried out on Au interdigited capacitors patterned on KTN coated (100) LaAlO3 and sapphire led at 1 GHz to an agility Delta C/C similar to 4.6% and similar to 7.2%, respectively, for a moderate applied field of 15 kV cm(-1). Stubs patterned on the same systems led to an agility Delta F-r/F-r of similar to 2.2% and 4.2%, respectively, for F-r = 7 GHz and the same applied field. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.