Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films of thickness 420 nm were deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate using a spin coating sol-gel precursor solution, and then annealed using 2.45 GHz microwaves at a temperature of 450 degrees C for 30 min. The film has a high perovskite content and high crystallinity with a full width at half maximum of 0.35 degrees. The surface roughness of the PZT thin film was 1.63 lim. Well-saturated ferroelectric properties were obtained with a remanent polarization of 46.86 mu C/Cm-2 and coercive field of 86.25 kV/cm. The film also exhibited excellent dielectric properties with a dielectric constant of 1140 and a dissipation factor of 0.03. These properties are superior to those obtained by conventional annealing at a temperature of 700 degrees C for 30 min. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.