A novel technique to measure the Curie temperature of ferroelectric thin films has been developed. The method is based on identifying changes in slope of film stress versus temperature plot. At the Curie temperature, ferroelectric films undergo a phase transition from ferroelectric phase to paraelectric phase. Due to this phase transformation, physical properties of films such as elastic constants and coefficients of thermal expansion also change at the Curie temperature. Consequently, at this temperature the temperature coefficient of film stress changes since it is related to elastic constants and thermal expansion coefficient. Thus, by measuring the film stress as a function of temperature, the Curie temperature can be determined. The Curie temperatures measured by this method are in good agreement with the literature values. Small discrepancies that were observed can be attributed to the intrinsic stresses present in the films.
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