Lead zirconate titanate (Pb(Zr(0.52)Ti(0.48))O(3), PZT) thin films fabricated by magnetron sputtering technique on the Pt/Ti/SiO(2)/Si substrates at room temperature, were annealed by means of CO(2) laser with resulting average substrate temperature below 500 degrees C. The crystal structure, surface morphology and pyroelectric properties of the PZT films before and after annealing were investigated by X-ray diffraction. atomic force microscopy, and pyroelectric measurements. The results show that the annealed PZT thin film with a laser energy density of 490 W/cm(2) for 25 s has a typical perovskite phase, uniform crystalline particles with a size of about 90 nm, and a high pyroelectric coefficient with 1.15 x 10(-8) Ccm(-2) K(-1). Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.