The microstructure of m-plane (1 0 (1) over bar 0) ZnO grown on LaAlO3 (1 1 2) (LAO (1 1 2)) substrate by pulsed laser deposition method has been investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). XRD shows that ZnO grown on LAO(1 1 2) appears to be oriented in pure m-plane. TEM electron diffraction patterns in cross section illustrate that m-plane ZnO is in epitaxy with LAO (1 1 2), and the orientation relationships are determined to be [1 (2) over bar 1 0](ZnO)//[(1) over bar (1) over bar 1 ](LAO) and [0 0 0 1](ZnO)//[(1) over bar 1 0](LAO). Also, TEM shows that most of threading dislocations (TDs) in a-type are mainly distributed as wiggle-like lines. From the observations in plan-view TEM, the densities of TDs and basal stacking faults are approximately estimated to be 5.1 x 10(10) cm(-2) and 4.3 x 10(5) cm(-1), respectively. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.