Erbium, and erbium and ytterbium co-doped YVO4 waveguiding films were deposited on MgO/Si substrates by PLD. The samples were post-annealed at two different temperatures in air atmosphere. The influence on the crystalline structure and waveguiding properties of the films at these annealing temperatures for two dopant concentrations was investigated. Layers annealed up to 900 degrees C are polycrystalline. The dominant fraction of YVO4 crystallites exhibited preferred orientation of the (0 0 1) zone axes parallel to the substrate surface. The polycrystalline samples show difference in the refractive indexes Delta n (Delta n = n(TE) - n(TM)) for TE and TM polarizations. (C) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.