  Context. Hard X-ray (HXR) spikes refer to fine time structures on timescales
of seconds to milliseconds in high-energy HXR emission profiles during solar
flare eruptions. Aims. We present a preliminary statistical investigation of
temporal and spectral properties of HXR spikes. Methods. Using a three-sigma
spike selection rule, we detected 184 spikes in 94 out of 322 flares with
significant counts at given photon energies, which were detected from
demodulated HXR light curves obtained by the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar
Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI). About one fifth of these spikes are also
detected at photon energies higher than 100 keV. Results. The statistical
properties of the spikes are as follows. (1) HXR spikes are produced in both
impulsive flares and long-duration flares with nearly the same occurrence
rates. Ninety percent of the spikes occur during the rise phase of the flares,
and about 70% occur around the peak times of the flares. (2) The time durations
of the spikes vary from 0.2 to 2 s, with the mean being 1.0 s, which is not
dependent on photon energies. The spikes exhibit symmetric time profiles with
no significant difference between rise and decay times. (3) Among the most
energetic spikes, nearly all of them have harder count spectra than their
underlying slow-varying components. There is also a weak indication that spikes
exhibiting time lags in high-energy emissions tend to have harder spectra than
spikes with time lags in low-energy emissions.
