High-quality transparent conductive gallium-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films were deposited on quartz glass substrates using pulsed laser deposition. The structure and electrical and optical properties of the as-grown GZO films were mainly investigated. in X-ray diffraction, (002) and (004) peaks were detected, indicating that Ga doping did not cause structural degradation of wurtzite ZnO. The chemical state of GZO films was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The GZO films formed at a substrate temperature of 300 degrees C showed a low electrical resistivity of 8.12 x 10(-5) Omega cm, a carrier concentration of 1.46 x 10(22) cm(-3) and a carrier mobility of 30.96 cm(2)/Vs at an oxygen pressure of 0.67 Pa. A visible transmittance of above 90% was obtained. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.