Dielectric response of Bi-2(Zn1/3Nb2/3)(2)O-7, BiZN, thin films was characterized by terahertz (THz), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and optical spectroscopies. FTIR measurements reveal the presence of lattice vibrational modes at f(1) = 330 cm(-1) and f(2) = 526 cm(-1). Real part of dielectric constant (epsilon(1) congruent to 21.5 at f = 200 cm(-1)) for the BiZN thin films increases moderately with frequency and drops abruptly at the polarizational resonances corresponding to f(1) andf(2), approaching a low constant value (epsilon(1) congruent to 2.4-3.6) in high frequency regime (f > 700 cm(-1)) High frequency response of BiZN thin films is essentially the same as the dielectric properties measured in optical frequency regime, indicating that there is no lattice vibrational mode beyond 700 cm(-1). The dielectric properties of the films in f > 700 cm(-1) regime is presumably contributed by electronic polarization only. In contrast, the low frequency dielectric constant (epsilon(1) = 21.5) is still smaller than the epsilon(1)-value measured by THz-spectroscopic technique (epsilon(1))(THz) = 30-38. Such phenomenon infers that there exists additional lattice vibrational mode in between 0.8 and 6THz (200 cm(-1)) frequency regime. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.