Highly (0 0 2) oriented ZnO films have been deposited at temperatures between 25 and 230degreesC by high-vacuum plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (HVP-CVD) on glass and silicon substrates. The HVP-CVD process was found to be weakly activated with an apparent activation energy of similar to 0.1eV, allowing room temperature synthesis. Films deposited on both substrates displayed a preferential c-axis texture over the entire temperature range. Films grown on glass demonstrated high optical transparency throughout the visible and near infrared. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.