Recent studies on single crystals of cuprate oxides containing spin chains and ladders have reported large anisotropic magnon-mediated thermal conductivity. A potential use of thin films of such materials could be in the thermal management of electronic devices for the guiding of unwanted heat to a heat sink. In this article, the pulsed laser deposition and characterization of La5Ca9Cu24O41 thin films on SrLaAlO4, SrTiO3, MgO, and Si substrates are reported for the first time. The films were grown using a pulsed UV laser (KrF, 248 nm) and various substrate temperatures up to 650 degrees C. The XRD spectra revealed successful target-film stoichiometric transfer and high texturing of the thin films with (0 k 0) preferred orientation. (C) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.