Spectroscopic ellipsometry was used to extract the optical constants of zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films deposited on (100) silicon substrate by filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique. Three dispersion models, namely, Sellmeier dispersion model, Cauchy model and Foroubi-Bloomer model, were evaluated for determining the optical constants of ZnO thin films below the energy band gap. The study shows that the Cauchy model provides the best spectral fittings among these three models. Above the energy band gap, two ellipsometric models, namely, two-phase model and three-phase point-by-point fit, were used. This study reveals that the initial values used in the point-by-point fitting play a critical role. It also shows that the refractive index and the extinction coefficient calculated with the two-phase model can be used as the initial values for the point-by-point fitting. The spectral dependence of the refractive index and extinction coefficient obtained in this work is comparable with the data reported in the literature. In sum, a reliable methodology for determining the optical constants of ZnO thin films in the ultraviolet-visible-near infrared range (250 similar to 1100 nm) has been developed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.