The preparation of thin AlVO4 films on corundum substrates for possible sensor application is described. Thermally stable, crack-free thin films having thicknesses typically below 0.1 mu m were obtained by a sol-gel process using alkoxide reagents combined with a spin-coating technique. The films were structurally characterized by XRD, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy and their morphology was analyzed by SEM. XRD showed that the films consisted almost exclusively (> 90%) of AlVO4 after calcination at 923 K.