ZnO waveguiding layers deposited onto soda lime glass were produced from the thermal oxidation of ZnS thin films elaborated by a carefully conducted chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. X-ray diffraction indicated that ZnO films possessing a polycrystalline hexagonal structure were obtained. M-line spectroscopy was used to determine the refractive index and the thickness of ZnO films which were 1.90 at wavelength lambda = 632.8 and 130 nm, respectively. These analyses were also conducted on the ZnS elaborated films before annealing treatment. The ZnO films presented waveguiding properties and optical losses of 3.0 +/- 0.5 dB cm(-1) at lambda = 632.8 nm were measured. The waveguide Raman spectrum of the ZnO films mainly exhibited a broad band at 558 cm(-1) which corresponds to longitudinal optical phonon and a large band which is assigned to amorphous ZnO material. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.