Aluminum nitride thin films have been deposited by pulsed laser deposition on fused silica, Si (1 0 0) and Mo(1 1 0)-coated Si substrates. FTIR measurements show that only pure AIN phase is present in films, confirmed by UV-V spectroscopy where a strong absorption peak occurs at 206 nm, characteristic of AIN. C-axis oriented films have been obtained at a temperature of 800 degrees C on Si (1 0 0) substrate, and at a temperature of 200 degrees C on Mo(1 1 0)-coated Si substrates. AFM experiments show that AIN film surface is very smooth (3.0 nm rms) without any particulate and droplet. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.