Bismuth ferrite thin films were deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO(2)/Si substrates by a soft chemical method and spin-coating technique. The effect of annealing atmosphere (air, N(2) and O(2)) on the structure and electrical properties of the films are reported. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that the film annealed in air atmosphere is a single-phase perovskite structure. The films annealed in air showed better crystallinity and the presence of a single BFO phase leading to lower leakage current density and superior ferroelectric hysteresis loops at room temperature. In this way, we reveal that BFO film crystallized in air atmosphere by the soft chemical method can be useful for practical applications, including nonvolatile digital memories, spintronics and data-storage media. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.