Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films are prepared by dual ion-beam assisted sputter deposition at room temperature. An assisting argon ion beam (ion energy E-i = 0-300 eV) directly bombards the substrate surface to modify the properties of the AZO films. The effects of assisting ion beam energy on the characteristics of AZO films were investigated based on transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and photoluminescence measurement. With increasing assisting ion beam bombardment, the crystalline quality of the AZO films was improved and the oxygen vacancies were increased observably. Two red emissions originating from the oxygen vacancies in the films appear at 1.71 and 1.64 eV. This study suggests that wide-band-gap materials could act as effective visible light emitters and ion beam bombardment provides a simple route to synthesize such materials. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.