9303564 Sandwip The objectives of this collaborative and interdisciplinary research program reside in the unified exploration of a potentially useful thin-film ferroelectric material, lead zirconate-titanate, doped with varying amounts of niobium. The basic studies will cover the fundamental science of sol- gel solid phase epitaxial growth (SPE)which eventually should lead to optimum commercial processing schedules. The research will include systematic studies of the thermodynamics and kinetics of the epitaxial amorphous-to- crystalline transition. Specifically, the structural and morphological nature of the microscopy (HTREM). The role of substrate orientation and aliovalent dopant niobium shall be elucidated along with their transformation kinetics. Additionally, capacitance measurements will be carried out to provide an independent measure of the phase transformation. Moreover, a comparison between in-situ and ex-situ heat treatments on SPE growth rates will be made to gain a fundamental understanding of the basic processes involved. %%% Epitaxial thin-film devices manufactured from these materials have enormous potential commercial value including electrooptic, piezoelectric and pyroelectric devices. This approach and much of the underlying science involved in this proposal on ferroelectric thin films are new; hence, the personnel involved will gain training in an area destined to be of great importance in emerging science and technology. ***
