ZnO thin film has been deposited on the glass substrate at a temperature of 200 degrees C using the filtered cathodic arc plasma (FCAP) technique with the oxygen flow rate of 1.0, 3.0, 5.0, 7.0, 9.0 and 10.0 sccm. The deposition processes are only held in pure oxygen atmosphere. The as-grown films exhibit a polycrystalline hexagonal wurtzite structure. With the oxygen flow rate increase, the crystallinity of the samples first increases and then decreases as measured by X-ray diffractometry (XRD). And the tensile stress exists in all the as-grown thin films. The small grain with a mean diameter of 13 nm is observed by the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The electrical resistivity values of the thin films are very low ranging from 5.42 x 10(-3) Omega cm to 4.0 x 10(-2) Omega cm. According to the result from room temperature photoluminescence spectra measurement, the luminescent bands also depend on the oxygen supply. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.