Research status and prospect of lead zirconate-based antiferroelectric films

It has been more than 70 years since the first anti-ferroelectric was discovered. Its unique electric-field induced phase transition behavior shows great potential applications in the fields of energy storage, electrocaloric, negative capacitance, thermal switching, etc. With the development of advanced synthesis technology and the trend of miniaturization and integration of devices, high-quality functional oxide films have received more and more attention. A large number of studies have shown that anti-ferroelectric thin film exhibits more novel properties than bulk, but it also faces more challenges, such as the disappearance of antiferroelectricity under a critical thickness induced by size effect. In this paper, we review the development history of lead zirconate-based anti-ferroelectric thin films, and discuss their structures, phase transitions and applications. We hope that this paper can attract more researchers to pay attention to the development of antiferroelectric thin films, so as to develop more new materials and explore new applications.