Piezoelectric ultrathin lead titanate films prepared by deposition of aquo-diol solutions

We report on the preparation of continuous ultrathin ferroelectric films of pure lead titanate by chemical solution deposition (CSD) methods. Aquo-diol solutions highly diluted have been used to obtain films with thickness down to 13 nm, the lowest reported for CSD films. The formation of islands instead of continuous coatings, which has been reported when CSD is used to prepare ultrathin films, is avoided here. The piezoelectric activity of the films has been characterized by piezoresponse force microscopy, showing that the thinnest film obtained retains a significant piezoelectric activity at the nanoscale, which is promising for their use as transducer elements in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS)