The present work reports on the characterization of AlCuFeCr based quasicrystalline approximant films produced via radio frequency and direct current sputtering from a powder composite target. Previous reports on similar Al-transition metal sputtered films indicated that amorphous coatings were produced at ambient temperatures. Annealing was required to develop the quasicrystalline approximant microstructure via a phase transformation. In this work, the nature of as-deposited AlCuFeCr coatings was studied using high-resolution grazing incidence X-ray scattering, radial distribution function analysis and simulated diffraction patterns based on a Scherrer line broadening model. Agreement was observed between these methods for an ordered approximant grain size of 25-50 Angstrom. A wide processing window was observed to produce as-deposited AlCuFeCr quasicrystalline approximant films. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.