We have grown magnesium oxide (MgO) films by the simple evaporation of MgB2 powders. The subsequent deposition of ZnO by using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique generated the ZnO rods on MgO films, realizing the first production of rod-like structures using ALD. We have employed X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy to characterize the samples. PL of MgO films exhibited two emission bands peaked in the blue and blue-green region, respectively. The deposition of ZnO rods changed the shape of the PL spectrum. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.