Titanium dioxide (TiO2) films were prepared on glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition using a titanium carbide (TiC) target. The effects of substrate temperature on the crystal structures, surface morphologies and chemical states of the thin films were examined by the Xray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The results of XRD and XPS indicated that TiC film was grown at substrate temperature of 293 K, whereas the anatase TiO2 film was formed at that of 773 K, which had round grains with 11-28 nm, and surface roughness was 0.5-1.1 nm. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.