We have fabricated tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminium nanowires by thermal evaporation in a tube furnace in argon flow. The effects of the quantity of the starting material, argon gas flow rate and the substrate temperature were investigated. The samples were studied using field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and photoluminescence. It was found that the fabrication conditions significantly affected the morphology of the deposited products, but the photoluminescence spectra did not exhibit strong dependence on the fabrication conditions. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.