p-Type ZnO thin films have been realized via monodoping of Li acceptor by adopting DC reactive magnetron sputtering. The lowest room-temperature resistivity was found to be 17.6 Omega cm with a Hall mobility of 3.47 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) and carrier concentration of 1.01 x 10(17)cm(-3) for Li-doped p-type ZnO film deposited on glass substrate. The Li-doped ZnO film possessed a good crystallinity with c-axis orientation and a high transmittance (90%) in the visible region. Moreover, the effects of Li content on the crystallinity, electrical and optical properties of p-type ZnO films were discussed. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.