Zinc oxide based thin film transistors (TFT) fabricated by a non-aqueous sol-gel solution process with a zinc neodecanoate precursor are demonstrated. X-ray diffraction measurement reveals that the ZnO films adopt a hexagonal structure with a random crystal orientation. Atomic force microscope and scanning electron microscope characterizations show that the films are closely packed and consisted of particles with an average size of 45 nm. The devices exhibit an n-channel enhancement mode behavior, with saturation mobility in the range of 0.95-1.29 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), drain current on-to-off ratios higher than 10(7) and threshold voltages between 5.3 and 16.8 V in an ambient environment. The results imply that high-performance ZnO TFTs produced by a simple and low-cost technique could be applicable to electronic devices. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.