0.7BiFeO(3)-0.3PbTiO(3) (BFPT7030) thin films were deposited on SiO2/Si substrates by sol-gel process. The influence of heating rate on the crystalline properties of BFPT7030 thin films were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XRD patterns of the films showed that a pure perovskite phase exists in BFPT7030 films annealed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) technique. SEM and AFM observations demonstrated that the BFPT7030 films annealed by RTA at 700 degrees C for 90 s with the heating rate of 1 degrees Cs-1 could show a dense, crack-free surface morphology, and the films' grains grow better than those of the films annealed by RTA at the same temperature with other heating rates. XPS results of the films indicated that the ratio of Fe3+: Fe2+ is about 21: 10 and 9: 5 for the films annealed by RTA at 700 degrees C for 90 s with the heating rate of 1 and 20 degrees Cs-1, respectively. That means the higher the heating rate, the higher the concentration of Fe2+ in the BFPT7030 thin films. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.