High-quality (110) Fe films with thickness of 200 nm were grown on Al2O3 (0 0 0 6) substrates by low-pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD). The effects of residual carbon and post-annealing treatment on magnetic properties of Fe films were studied. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements revealed that almost all the interstitial carbon atoms in Fe films can be removed by annealing at temperature of 600 degrees C. Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) showed that the in-plane (out-of-plane) coercivity of the film annealed at 600 degrees C is clearly larger (smaller) than that of as-grown one, which can be assigned to the tensile stress relaxation due to the removal of carbon. As the annealing temperature increased from 600 to 750 degrees C, the in-plane coercivity decreased while the out-of-plane coercivity increased. Meanwhile, the in-plane remanence ratios increased rapidly with the increase of annealing temperature, but the out-of-plane remanence ratios changed slightly. The origin of the changes of magnetic properties with annealing temperatures was discussed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.