This work concerns growth and characterization of iron oxide (mainly alpha-Fe2O3) thin films with a non-toxic and easy to manipulate technique. The latter consists of spraying FeCl3 center dot 6H(2)O (0.03 M)-based aqueous solution during 30 min onto glass substrates heated at 350 degrees C with a spray flow of 5 ml/min. These conditions led to the formation of rust red amorphous films. Well crystallized Fe2O3 films were obtained after annealing in vacuum-sealed tube (similar to 10(-4) Pa) for 5 h at different temperatures ranging from 250 degrees C to 400 degrees C. The structure of the crystallized films was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and microprobe analyses. Two phases corresponding to alpha-Fe2O3 and Fe(OOH) were evidenced. The major phase was found to be related to the alpha-Fe2O3 compound, which appears at low annealing temperature, while the best growth of the Fe(COH) minor phase was obtained after annealing at about 350 degrees C; beyond this temperature the Fe(OOH) minor phase tends to disappear and completely transforms into alpha-Fe2O3. The average crystallite size dimension of the alpha-Fe2O3 phase, determined from XRD patterns, changes from 45 nm to 85 nm as the annealing temperature increases from 250 degrees C to 400 degrees C. SEM images show compact and granular films, while microprobe analyses show rather stoichiometric Fe2O3 films at an annealing temperature of about 350 degrees C. Optical analyses enabled to point out direct band-gap energy of about 2.1 eV. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.