ZnO films have been deposited on n-type Si (1 0 0) wafers by RF magnetron sputtering and subsequently implanted with Nb ions to fluences of (1-8) x 10(15) cm(-2). The ultraviolet near-band-edge photoluminescence (PL) intensity of the implanted films is shown to increase with increasing fluence as well as annealing temperature and becomes maximally similar to 7.5 times stronger than the emission from the un-implanted ZnO film. An increase in the PL intensity is attributed to the improved crystallinity of the ZnO resulting from a reduction in the density of native defects by the Nb implantation, as demonstrated by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.