Effect of elastic compliances and higher order Landau coefficients on the phase diagram of single domain epitaxial Pb(Zr, Ti)O-3 (PZT) thin films

We report the qualitative study of the influence of both elastic compliances and higher order terms of Landau free energy potential on the phase diagram of Pb(Zr0.5Ti0.5)O-3 thin films by using a single domain Landau theory. Although the impact of elastic compliances and higher order terms of the Landau free energy potential on the phase diagram of ferroelectric thin films are known, the sensitivity of the phase diagram of PZT thin film on these parameters have not been reported. It is demonstrated that, while values of elastic compliances affect the positions of the phase boundaries including phase transition temperature of the cubic phase; higher order terms can potentially introduce an a1a2-phase previously predicted in PbTiO3 phase diagram. (C) 2014 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.