We deposited tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq(3)) films on glass substrates by using the hot-wall method. The Alq(3) films were deposited for changing substrate temperature from 50 to 125 degrees C. With increasing the substrate temperature, anomalous growth patterns with a butterfly-like shape appeared and spread on the surface of the deposited films. The intensity of emission from the anomalous region is stronger than that from the smooth region as found by fluorescence microscope observations and photoluminescence measurements. The observed anomalous growth in the films deposited at high substrate temperatures was identified to be due to alpha-phase crystallization of Alq(3) from the emission spectrum and X-ray diffraction measurements and from comparing those results with alpha-Alq(3) crystals grown by the vapour phase growth technique. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.