Here we report the growth of epitaxial ZnO-Pt-ZnO trilayer structures on sapphire (0001) substrate by using pulsed laser deposition technique. These structures were characterized using X-ray diffraction, conventional and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, STEM (scanning Transmission Electron microscopy-Atomic number) Z-contrast, optical transmittance and electrical resistivity measurements. X-ray diffraction and TEM experiments revealed the epitaxial nature of these structures, the orientation relationship being: < 111 > (pt)parallel to < 0001 >(ZnO)parallel to < 0001 > < 0001 >(sapphire) (out of plane) and < 110 >(pt)parallel to < 2110 >(ZnO)parallel to < 0110 >(sapphire) (in Plane) for the trilayer structure. Electrical and optical measurements showed that these heterostructures exhibit quite good electrical conductivity and at the same time possess moderate optical transmittance. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.