Ferroelectric ceramics by sol-gel methods and applications: a review

New advances in the sol-gel processing of ferroelectric ceramic powders and thin films and recently, scientific and technological interests in ferroelectric ceramics have been focused particularly on thin films. This is mainly due to their great potential applications in integrated electronics as passive components and as non-volatile ferroelectric memories, optoelectronic devices, etc. Special attention has been paid to the effects of the microstructure and composition on the piezoelectric properties of ferroelectric ceramic powders and thin films, and various characterization techniques are reported. This paper introduces the basic principles governing ferroelectricity and lists the various materials which exhibit these properties. The processing of ferroelectric ceramics and thin films in general and sol-gel processing in particular, with some examples are described. Finally, important applications of ferroelectric films and microstructure examination as well as powerful techniques are briefly discussed.