Zinc oxide (ZnO) and zinc rich zinc oxide (Zn:ZnO) thin films are synthesized using vapor phase trapping assisted thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. X-ray diffraction measurements indicate the highly textured c-axis growth for Zn:ZnO thin films as compared to ZnO thin film structures. The observed insignificant change in lattice parameters suggests that excess Zn is in interstitial sites. The optical studies substantiate that the excess Zn in ZnO matrix is contributing to the point defects, with integrated luminescence towards the light blue color with respect to that for the pristine ZnO thin film. The electronic carrier concentration is about four orders of magnitude higher for Zn:ZnO thin films, causing Burstein-Moss shift of ∼0.13 eV in Zn:ZnO thin films. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.