The effects of uniaxial stress distribution on the ferroelectric properties of thin films with first-order phase transition

Based on the Landau theory, the first-order phase transition properties of ferroelectric thin films have been studied by taking into account uniaxial stress distribution effects. The stress is supposed to decrease from interface to surface exponentially according to the experimental results. It is shown that tensile stress decreases the polarization and the Curie temperature while compressive stress increases the polarization and the Curie temperature. A stress-driven phase transition is found at the critical stress. Our prediction is compared with the available experiment results.