Preparation and Characterization of Sol-Gel Derived Epitaxial and Oriented $\bf Pb(Zr_{0.52}Ti_{0.48})O_{3}$ Thin Films

Epitaxial and oriented Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O-3 (PZT) thin films were prepared from nonhydrolyzed polymeric precursors. PZT thin films with a single (001) orientation were prepared on SrTiO3 (100) and MgO (100) substrates by solid-phase epitaxial growth. Crystallization of sol-gel PZT with a (111) preferred orientation was also observed on sapphire (0001) substrates. The guided wave modes were excited by a prism coupling method for PZT thin films crystallized on MgO (100) at 700 degrees C, and the verified refractive index was as high as 2.561. Dielectric constant and remnant polarization of epitaxial PZT thin films, crystallized on conductive Nb-SrTiO3 (100) substrates at 650 degrees C, were 448 at 10 kHz and 15 mu C/cm(2), respectively.