Evolution of the fractal surface of amorphous lead zirconate-titanate films during crystallization

The recrystallization kinetics of amorphous lead zirconate-titanate films p repared by sol-gel technology are investigated experimentally using elastic scattering of light. Sequences of elastic dependences of the scattered lig ht intensity are recorded directly during thermal annealing. The evolution of the morphology of the film surface during annealing is described in term s of the variation of their fractal dimensionalities D-s. The experimental dependences D-s(t) are compared with the results of a computer simulation o f the phase transition kinetics in a thin plate (film). (C) 1999 American I nstitute of Physics. [S1063-7834(99)02302-3].