In the present study transparent conducting zinc aluminum oxide (ZAO) thin films were prepared by DC reactive magnetron sputtering technique. The films were deposited on glass substrates at 200 degrees C and annealed from 200 degrees C to 500 degrees C. XRD patterns of ZAO films shows (0 0 2) diffraction peak of hexagonal wurtzite, meaning that the films have c-axis orientation perpendicular to the substrate. Crystallite size was calculated from X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra using the Scherrer formula. The surface morphology of the films was observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The electrical conductivity increases with increase of annealing temperature. The activation energies of conduction were obtained from an Arrhenius equation. The best characteristics of ZAO films have been obtained for the films annealed at 400 degrees C with an average transmittance of 88% and a minimum resistivity of 2.2 x 10(-4) Omega cm. The optical band gap, optical constants, and electron concentrations of ZAO films are obtained from UV-vis-IR spectrophotometer data. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.