Zirconium oxide thin films grown by photo-induced chemical vapor deposition incorporating excimer UV lamps at deposition temperatures between 50 and 350 degreesC have been explored. The as-deposited ZrO2 films grown at 200 degreesC exhibited a good leakage property with a current density of similar to3.0 x 10(-5) A/cm(2) at an electric field of 1 MV/cm, which was further improved to similar to2.0 x 10(-6) A/cm(2) after an UV anneal in O-2 at 400 degreesC for 10 min. With the annealing step, very few positive fixed charges with a Q(f) value of similar to2.0 x 10(10) and similar to3.0 x 10(9) cm(-2) for the 200 and 300 degreesC deposited films were present near the ZrO2/Si interface while the 300 degreesC deposited films also exhibited a lower interface trap density of 6.6 x 10(9) cm(-2) eV(-1). The as-deposited photo-CVD ZrO2 layers started to crystallise at a temperature of 250 degreesC, giving a refractive index value of similar to2.1 at the temperature just above 300 degreesC. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.