The effect of an increase in the electrical conductivity of a system of zinc oxide nanorods by a factor of 105 during atomic layer deposition of a thin dielectric layer of aluminum oxide was found. It is shown that a change in the electrical conductivity of zinc oxide during atomic layer deposition of aluminum oxide on the surface is also observed for thin polycrystalline layers of zinc oxide. A study of polycrystalline layers of zinc oxide coated with aluminum oxide using ultraviolet and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is presented. Based on the results of photoelectron spectroscopy, two main factors for changing the electrical conductivity are proposed, which consist in the formation of a two-dimensional electron gas at the ZnO|Al2O3 interface and doping of the near-surface region of zinc oxide with aluminum atoms. Keywords: nanorods, zinc oxide, aluminum oxide, atomic layer deposition, transparent electrodes, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy.