ZnO thin films on Si(1 1 1) substrate were deposited by laser ablation of Zn target in oxygen reactive atmosphere; Nd-YAG laser with wavelength of 1064 nm was used as laser source. The experiments were performed at various laser energy densities (31-53 J/cm(2)), various substrate temperatures (200-550 degrees C) and various oxygen pressures (5-90 Pa). In order to study the influence of the process parameters on the deposited ZnO films, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were applied to characterize the structure and surface morphology of the deposited ZnO films. It was found that the ZnO film with a majority of c-axis growth grains obtained under the condition of substrate temperature 450-550 degrees C, oxygen pressure 5-30 Pa and a moderate laser energy density (31 J/cm2) exhibited good photoluminescence properties. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.