Thin films of Nd-doped and pure CeO2 have been fabricated on quartz glass and MgO(100) single crystal substrates by an electron beam evaporation method. The deposition and crystal growth behavior has been investigated using X-ray diffractometry and atomic force microscope. The CeO2 thin film showed preferred (111) orientation on MgO(100) above 373 K and (110) orientation on quartz glass above 673 K. The electrical conductivity of 40 mol% NdO1.5-doped CeO2 thin film shows almost identical value with those of sintered ceramics with the activation energy of 0.91 eV. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.