Polycrystalline ferroclectric lead-free Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (BNT) thin films have been successfully deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates by an improved sol-gel process using rapid thermal annealing. Our results indicate that thermal annealing in an oxygen atmosphere after each layer of coating is effective in promoting crystallization of the film at a relatively low temperature of 650 degrees C. The resulting film is dense and well crystallized in the rhombohedral perovskite phase, and has good electrical and ferroelectric properties. The observed dielectric constant and loss at 100 kHz are 277 and 0.02, respectively, while the observed remanent polarization and coercive field under an alternating current electric field of 1100 kV/cm are 8.3 mu C/cm(2) and 200 kVcm, respectively. The BNT based film is expected to be a promising candidate for lead-free piezoelectric applications. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.