A series of zirconium dioxide films were grown on rough borosilicate crown glass substrates with reactive ion beam sputtering technique. The evolution of the surface roughness was studied in the smoothing and roughening growth regimes using atomic force microscopy. By quantitative analysis of surface morphology, the interface width of the growth fronts was found to have a minimum during the deposition process. Dynamic scaling was observed for thicker films; the roughness exponent was found to be in the range of 0.7-0.9 and the growth exponent at approximately 0.4. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.