The epitaxial growth of ZnO thin films on Al(2)O(3) (0001) substrates have been achieved at a low-substrate temperature of 150 degrees C using a dc reactive sputtering technique. The structures and crystallographic orientations of ZnO films varying thicknesses on sapphire (0001) were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD). We used angle-dependent X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy to examine the variation of local structure. The XRD data showed that the crystallinity of the film is improved as the film thickness increases and the strain is fully released as the film thickness reached about 800 A. The Zn K-edge XANES spectra of the ZnO films have a strong angle-dependent spectral feature resulting from the preferred c-axis orientation. The wurtzite structure of the ZnO films was explicitly shown by the XRD and EXAFS analysis. The carrier concentration, Hall mobility and resistivity of the 800 angstrom-thick ZnO film were 1.84 x 10(19) cm(-3), 24.62 cm(2)V(-1)s(-1), and 1.38 x 10(-2) Omega cm, respectively. (c) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.