A high throughput screening method was developed for automatic measurements of ferroelectric thin film samples with piezoresponse force microscopy. Libraries of samples with varying chemical compositions, produced with high throughput experimentation via the sol-gel route, were examined and piezoresponse images were recorded. A procedure was designed to calculate figures of merit that are related to the piezoelectric coefficient d(33). They were used to identify the most promising samples within a combinatorial library. The method was evaluated through comparison with macroscopic permittivity measurements. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.