An overview of the state of art in ferroelectric thin films is presented. First, we review applications: microsystems' applications, applications in high frequency electronics, and memories based on ferroelectric materials. The second section deals with materials, structure ͑domains, in particular͒, and size effects. Properties of thin films that are important for applications are then addressed: polarization reversal and properties related to the reliability of ferroelectric memories, piezoelectric nonlinearity of ferroelectric films which is relevant to microsystems' applications, and permittivity and loss in ferroelectric films-important in all applications and essential in high frequency devices. In the context of properties we also discuss nanoscale probing of ferroelectrics. Finally, we comment on two important emerging topics: multiferroic materials and ferroelectric one-dimensional nanostructures.

(Ba,Sr)TiO3 (BST) thin films grown by chemical vapor deposition and with platinum (Pt) top and bottom electrodes have been characterized with respect to the leakage current as a function of temperature and applied voltage. The data can be interpreted via a thermionic emission model. The Schottky approximation accounts for superohmic behavior at higher fields, but the barrier lowering is stronger than expected from this theory. While the leakage mechanism is comparable to SrTiO3 thin films prepared by chemical solution deposition, the absolute values of the leakage current are significantly lower for the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) prepared BST film. This is presumably due to a more homogeneous microstructure of the latter and may also be due to different electrode processing. The influence of the film thickness on the leakage in combination with additional findings is used to discuss the field distribution in the films under a dc voltage stress.

Kingon, A.; and Tokumoto, H., "Asymmetric nanoscale switching in ferroelectric thin films by scanning force microscopy" (2001). Alexei Gruverman Publications. 7.

An important application of ferroelectric films is their incorporation into dynamic random-access memories (DRAMs) as the storage node capacitor dielectric. Dynamic random-access memories represent a large market that is experiencing strong growth, but they are particularly significant as the technology leader for semiconductor devices. As products move to higher and higher integration density, new developments are first introduced in DRAMs. The steady trend toward higher density has placed severe demands on the device designs, particularly with respect to “squeezing” the capacitor into the available space.

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