In this study we investigated properties of ZnO thin films deposited on both oxygen-containing substrates and a substrate without oxygen content at various O-2/Ar reactant gas ratios. Deposition of ZnO on indium-tin oxide (ITO) resulted in the best crystallinity, whereas the least degree of crystallization was observed from ZnO deposited on glass. All the films were found to have compressive stress, which was relieved by annealing in O-2 environment. ZnO films deposited on glass revealed p-type conductivity when prepared at O-2/Ar ratio of 0.25 whereas those on SiNx yielded p-type conductivity when prepared at O-2/Ar ratio of 4. In addition, shallower oxygen interstitial seemed to be found from films with better crystallinity. The largest shift in binding energy of Zn-2p3/2 was observed from ZnO prepared on glass at O-2/Ar ratio of 0.25, whereas that of O-1s was obtained from ZnO deposited on SiNx at O-2/Ar ratio of 4. A model was proposed in terms of O-2 diffusion and hydrogen desorption in order to account for the observed property variations depending on substrates and O-2/Ar ratios. (C) 2010 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.