Zn-0.95 xCo0.05CuxO (ZCCO, where x = 0, 0.005, 0.01 and 0.015) thin films were deposited on Si (1 0 0) substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique. Crystal structures, surface morphologies, chemical compositions, bonding states and chemical valences of the corresponding elements for ZCCO films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electronmicroscope (FESEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XRD and FESEM results indicate that crystallite sizes of the highly (0 0 2)-oriented ZCCO films slightly decrease with increasing Cu content. When the Cu content increases from 0 to 0.015, Zn 2p(3/2), Co 2p, Cu 2p(3/2) and O 1s peaks of the ZCCO film shift towards higher or lower binding energy regions, and the reasons for these chemical shifts are investigated by fitting the corresponding XPS narrow-scan spectra. Both in-plane and out-of-plane magnetization-magnetic field hysteresis loops of the ZCCO films reveal that all the films have room temperature ferromagnetisms (RTFMs). The conceivable origin of the RTFM is ascribed to the combined effects of the local structural disorder resulted from (Co2+, Cu2+, Cu1+)-cations which substitute Zn2+ ions in the ZnO matrices, ferromagnetic coupling between coupled dopant atoms caused by Co2+ (3d(7)4s(0)) and Cu2+ (3d(9)4s(0)) spin states, and exchange interactions between the unpaired electron spins originating from lattice defects induced by Cu doping in the Zn0.95Co0.05O matrices. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.