9312072 Schlom This is a proposal submitted to the Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) Program. The PI proposed to use the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) techniques to grown stacked thin film layers of feeroelectric oxides with buffers. The objective was to prepare thin film ferroelectrics with controlled grain boundaries, and to study their effects on the problem of DC ferroelectric degradation. %%% This is a SGER project. The project plans to grown stacked thin film layers of ferrorelectric oxides with buffers. The goal is to prepare expitaxial film with controlled grain boundaries. Through these grain boundaries, the project intends to study the effects of these boundaries on the problem of DC degradation. This problem plagues oxide ferroelectrics as electronic device materials. If its cause can be ascertained, its solution can make the oxide ferroelectrics important electronic materials of the future, suitable as non-volatile memory materials. ***
