ZrO2 films were grown on p-type Si(100) using plasma assisted pulsed laser deposition and the electrical characteristics of the ZrO2 dielectrics incorporated in metal oxide silicon (MOS) capacitors were studied in combination with their structural and optical properties. The ZrO2 dielectric layers are of polycrystalline structure with a monoclinic phase and show good interfacial properties without obvious SiOx interface. The electrical performance of the capacitors exhibits typical MOS-type capacitance-voltage (C-V) and leakage current density-voltage (J-V) characteristics. Thermal annealing of the ZrO2 dielectrics results in an improvement in C-V and J-V characteristics and a reduction in C-V hysteresis without obvious introduction of leakage paths for the fabricated MOS capacitors. The dielectric constant was calculated to be 15.4 and the leakage current density was measured to be 6.7x10(-6) A/cm(2) at a gate voltage of +1.0 V for 900 degrees C annealed ZrO2 dielectric layers with an equivalent oxide thickness of 5.2 nm. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.