Zinc oxide thin films were prepared by pulsed spray pyrolysis (SP) from aqueous zinc acetate precursor solution. The deposition behavior of the solution with regard to the pool boiling curve of the solvent was investigated to gain insights of the deposition mechanism which leads to homogeneous and reproducible ZnO layers. The Leidenfrost effect was found to play an important role since the Leidenfrost temperature has to be exceeded to form high quality layers. It is concluded that 3D nucleation of ZnO nano-crystals takes place out of the gaseous phase by a CVD-like process on ITO as well as on SiO2 substrates. Crystal orientation and surface roughness of the zinc oxide layer are found to depend strongly on the substrate. An increasing grain size with film thickness is observed. These findings were utilized to fabricate and investigate the semiconducting properties of the films in ZnO thin film transistors (TFTs). The mobility exceeded 12 cm(2) V-1 s(-1), the on-set was at 1 V and the on-off current ratio was found to be higher than 10(8). Hence the morphology and the electrical parameters of the ZnO films deposited by pulsed spray pyrolysis from non-toxic aqueous zinc acetate solution above the Leidenfrost point show excellent properties for electronic applications. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.