Effect of lanthanum content and substrate strain on structural and electrical properties of lead lanthanum zirconate titanate thin films

•PLZT thin films with different La dopant levels and thermal strains were fabricated.•Heavier La doping decreased lattice parameter, grain size, and Pr.•Compressive strain enhanced the values of Tc, Pr, and Ec compared with tensile.•Lattice parameters and grain sizes were smaller in thin films than in bulks.•Pr, Ec were improved in thin films from those in bulks.

We investigated the structural, electrical properties of Pb1−xLax(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PLZT) thin films under tensile (Pt/Si) and compressive (LaNiO3/Ni) strain-states, respectively. The lattice parameter, grain size, remanent polarization of the thin films decreased with increasing La content. For identical compositions, the Curie temperature, remanent polarization, and coercive field were always higher for films on LaNiO3/Ni than Pt/Si. These suggest that the electrical properties of PLZT thin films can be tuned by altering the dopant level and substrate-induced strain levels.