The search for alternatives to sputtered or ion exchanged glass or sputtered metal oxide films as a medium for use in integrated optics components forms the background to this paper. Aluminium oxide is currently being studied and preliminary experiments indicate that there may be some new pathways to produce the thin films organically by plasma deposition. Such a process might enable substrate temperatures to be lowered, and thus offer the possibility of producing reduced loss, controlled refractive index waveguiding films: often these films are deposited onto materials which are thermally sensitive. Comparison of films deposited from aluminium alkoxide, an organic precursor, and aluminium chloride indicate that the process is viable.