Combined effect of grain size and tensile stresses on the ferroelectric properties of sol-gel (Pb,La)TiO₃ thin films

Transmission electron microscopy has shown that the grain size of sol-gel-prepared lanthanum-modified lead titanate films increases from ∼100 to ∼1 μm when the excess of PbO in the precursor solution is reduced from 20 to 10 mol%. Switchable polarization is higher in the films with a smaller grain size. Profilometry and the temperature dependence of the dielectric permittivity indicate that films are tensile stressed by the substrate. The grain-size effect on polarization switching is explainedby taking into account this tensile stress, which is thought to induce some a-domain orientation and 90° domain wall clamping in the grains attached to the substrate.