New ion implantation techniques were used to study phenomena related to emission in ZnO thin films implanted with Cu. Room temperature Cu implantation was at 125 keV, in a Cu dose range of 1 x 10(12) to 2 x 10(14) ions/cm(2). The intensity of banded-edge emission was continuously decreased with increasing Cu dose because of implantation-induced damage. After annealing the films at 800 degreesC for 3 h, we observed luminescence in the visible region; this was enabled by recovery from the implantation damage and the Cu phosphor. Emission at about 555 nm was observed in the Cu dose range from 1 x 10(12) to 2 x 10(14) ions/cm(2). (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.