In this paper, we present the results of the fabrication and characterization of fluorite-like Sr0.8Bi2.6Ta2O9 (SBT) thin films spin-coated on Ir (50 nm)/SiO2 (100 nm)/p-type (100)Si substrates using the metal-organic decomposition (MOD) technique. The SBT films prepared at 450 degreesC under various annealing times were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) as fluorite phase. The polarization versus electric field (P-E) behavior of SBT thin films pyrolyzed and annealed at 450degreesC for 60 min was linear with dielectric constant of 100. The 450 degreesC annealed films have the leakage current density of about 4 x 10(-8) A/cm(2) at 200 kV/cm. The dependence of cumulative failure on dielectric breakdown field and time-dependent dielectric breakdown studies for these paraelectric SBT films indicated that the longer the annealing time, the better the breakdown field, whereas the film with no annealing treatment had a lifetime of over 10 years on operation at the electric field of 0.8 MV/cm. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.