Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films have been prepared on Si (001),Si (111), glass, and thermally grown SiO2/Si (001) substrates using a pulsed laser deposition. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected-area electron diffraction showed that there are neither amorphous layer nor random oriented polycrystalline ZnO layer at the film/ substrates interfaces even if the films were formed at a relatively low substrate temperature of 400 degreesC. Typically, consecutive c-axis oriented ZnO film on Si (001) substrate with deviation angle below +/-4.5 degrees in the 30 nm thick ZnO film is formed directly on the about 2.5nm-thick amorphous native silicon oxide layer. These results indicate that during the initial film growth particles may satisfy the tetrahedral coordination, which results in nucleation with c-axis orientation even on the amorphous substrate. The phase evolution and preferred orientation of the ZnO films at the initial stage of the Nm growth at the interface are discussed.