Zinc oxide (ZnO) stacked films were prepared by repeating a procedure involving KrF excimer laser irradiation at various energy fluences (E(f)) of sol-gel-derived precursors. All the stacked films are wurtzite-type and highly c-axis oriented on glass substrates. The green cathodoluminescence (CL) efficiency of the films is strongly influenced by the preparation conditions. Especially, laser E(f) and stacking number are important control factors. The stacked film prepared under optimized preparation conditions consists of large grains and indicate low electric resistivity. The green CL efficiency of the stacked film is 0.0139 lm/W, which is higher than those of ZnO thin films prepared by a single stacking. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.