Sol-gel synthesis of crack-free thin films of calcium lead titanate

Calcium modified lead titanate ferroelectric thin films were prepared using the modification of the diol sol-gel system. The films prepared are crack-free. Single layer films up to /spl sim/0.5 /spl mu/m thick could be prepared from 0.6 M sols; thicker films up to /spl sim/3.5 /spl mu/m could be prepared from multiple deposition procedure using ten coating of 0.4 M sol. Firing the precursor films at a temperature of /spl sim/650/spl deg/C induced crystallization to the perovskite phase. The polarization-electric field response of the films were examined. Initially the films of various compositions in the system Pb/sub 1-x/Ca/sub x/TiO/sub 3/ up to x=0.3 showed a wide variation in electrical properties across each film.