High-quality zinc oxide (ZnO) films were successfully grown on ZnO-buffered a-plane sapphire (Al2O3 (1 1 (2) over bar 0)) substrates by controlling temperature for lateral growth using chemical bath deposition (CBD) at a low temperature of 60 degrees C. X-ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy micrographs showed that the ZnO films had a single-crystalline wurtzite structure with c-axis orientation. Rocking curves (omega-scans) of the (0 0 0 2) reflections showed a narrow peak with full width at half maximum value of 0.50 degrees for the ZnO film. A reciprocal space map indicated that the lattice parameters of the ZnO film (a = 0.3250 nm and c = 0.5207 nm) were very close to those of the wurtzite-type ZnO. The ZnO film on the ZnO-buffered Al2O3 (1 1 (2) over bar 0) substrate exhibited n-type conduction. with a carrier concentration of 1.9 x 10(19) cm-3 and high carrier mobility of 22.6 cm(2)V(-1)s(-1). (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.