High-resolution inspections of ferroelectric thin PZT films

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) materials have been widely investigated for applications in dynamic random access memories and non-volatile random access memories. The developments of such applications are conditionned by the fabrication of thin films. The main advantages of the sol-gel method include low cost and high quality control of the deposited thin films. Electric force microscopy and near-field optical microscopy are proposed as high-resolution inspection methods at the nanometric scale to extend the classical macroscopic characterizations.