Crystal structure, surface morphology, compositional homogeneity and electrical properties of layered perovskite bismuth titanate (BTO) thin films have been investigated. BTO thin films were deposited on silicon and platinum-coated silicon substrates by spin coating. X-ray diffraction analysis confirms that the crystallinity of the films increases with increasing annealing temperature and the optimum temperature is found to be 600°C. Morphology studies by AFM showed that the surface of the films were smooth, dense and crack free. Composition analysis on the surface and in-depth confirms the stoichiometry of the films. C-V measurements show a counter-clockwise dielectric hysteresis, indicating that the ferroelectric property sufficiently controls the silicon potential with a memory width of 2V. The leakage current density of the films is measured to be 2 × 10-7 A/cm2 from I-V characteristics at an applied voltage of 1V. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.