For formation of beta-FeSi2 using ion beam sputter deposition (IBSD) method, sputter etching (SE) followed by thermal annealing is effective substrate treatment to obtain highly (100)-oriented beta-FeSi2 on Si(100). However, the best condition of these treatments are not yet known. In this work, the effect of SE together with annealing process on the orientation of the film is investigated. Prior to the deposition of Fe, the substrate is irradiated by Ne+ ions with various energy and fluence followed by thermal annealing at 1073 K for 60 min. The overall results show the most suitable SE condition using Ne+ ion on IBSD method is the energy of I keV with the fluence of 3.0 x 10(19) ions/m(2). (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.