Thermodynamic theory of stress distribution in epitaxial Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 thin films

A phenomenological thermodynamic model has been developed to account for the effects of the film thickness on various properties of ferroelectric thin films. To this end, we have suitably incorporated a position-dependent stress distribution function into the elastic Gibbs function. Various physical properties can be predicted as a function of the film thickness using this modified thermodynamic formalism. A comparison of the theoretical predictions with experimental values of the average strain and the para-ferro transition temperature indicates that the tensile stress caused by the cubic-tetragonal displacive phase transition dominates over the compressive thermal stress in the epitaxially oriented tetragonal Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 thin films.