Epitaxial titanium diboride thin films have been deposited on sapphire substrates by pulsed laser ablation technique. Structural properties of the films have been studied during the growth by reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and ex-situ by means of X-ray diffraction techniques; both kinds of measurements indicate a good crystallographic orientation of the TiB2 film both in plane and along the c axis. A flat surface has been observed by atomic force microscopy imaging. Electrical resistivity at room temperature resulted to be five times higher than the value reported for single crystals. The films also resulted to be very stable at high temperature, which is very promising for using this material as a buffer layer in the growth of magnesium diboride thin films. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.