Depolarization field as a driving force of fatigue in PZT ferroelectric thin films

A study has been made of the dependence of switched charge in ferroelectric lead-zirconate-titanate films on the number of polarization reversal cycles produced by bipolar voltage pulses of fixed amplitude and duration under variation of their repetition rate. The film fatigue in the polarization switching frequency range studied (100 Hz - 100 kHz) has been shown to be dominated by the depolarization field caused by the presence in the near-electrode film regions of a pyrochlorestructure nonferroelectric phase.