TEM investigation of rhombohedral PZT thin films

This work analyses thin films of compositions within the rhombohedral phase of the lead zirconate titanate (PZT) system, and compares the results with previous reports on the structure and physical properties carried out on the same materials, but in the ceramic form. Irrespective of the special characteristics of thin films, the same structural features as in the ceramics were observed. This shows that the origin of the superlattice reflections is not related to a particular characteristic of the ceramic form, but to a fundamental aspect of the crystal structure. The influence of the domain configuration on the physical behaviour is also discussed and compared to the ceramic case.