High quality vanadium dioxide (VO 2 ) thin films have been successfully deposited by pulsed laser deposition without postannealing on (0001) and (101¯0) sapphire substrates. X‐ray diffraction reveals that the films are highly oriented with (010) planes parallel to the surface of the substrate. VO 2 thin films on (0001) and (101¯0) substrates show semiconductor to metal transistions with electrical resistance changes as large as 4×10⁴, 10⁵, respectively. Thin films on (101¯0) substrate have a transition at as low as 55 °C with a hysteresis less than 1 °C. These transition properties are comparable with single crystal VO 2 . © 1994 American Institute of Physics.