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Zirconium aluminum nitride thin films (Zr 0.11 Al 0.89 N) were prepared on different substrates using unbalanced DC reactive magnetron co-sputtering. The influence of sputtering atmosphere, including N 2 /Ar-flow ratio and their total pressure, on the crystalline structure and the electrical properties of the Zr 0.11 Al 0.89 N films has been investigated. In this work, the optimal N 2 /Ar-flow ratio is 1:1 and the optimal total pressure is 0.5 Pa. The resultant Zr 0.11 Al 0.89 N films have a wurtzite structure that is preferentially oriented along the c-axis and have uniform grains. The dielectric constant, dielectric loss, leakage current density and resistivity of the Zr 0.11 Al 0.89 N films reach ~ 16, ~ 0.01 (in a frequency range of 10 3 –10 6 Hz), 3.0 × 10 − 8 A/cm 2 and 1.92 × 10 12 Ω·cm, respectively, which are all superior to those under suboptimal conditions. Moreover, the Zr 0.11 Al 0.89 N films exhibit higher dielectric constants, as well as much lower dielectric loss and leakage current density compared to that of pure AlN films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]