PtSi ultra-thin films were grown on Si-wafer using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). As determined from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), the compositional structures of the PtSi were discussed. Furthermore, the surface structure of these films was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). A possible growth mechanism is presented, on studying the variation of morphological features (i.e., roughness and size of crystallites) with annealing temperature and films thickness. In addition, by the AFM studies and schottky characterization measurements of PtSi films forming during various annealing processing, preferable preparing conditions are proposed to form the continuous and smooth PtSi thin film on Si substrate by PLD. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.