The effects of fatigue-annealing history on the ferroelectric properties of thermally recovered lead zirconate titanate thin films were investigated. With increasing fatigue-annealing cycle number, the electrical properties and fatigue endurance of the thermally recovered capacitors were deteriorated though they had the same total thermal history. The thickening of the interfacial layers of low dielectric constant and weak ferroelectricity caused by the elements' diffusion at the metal/ferroelectric interfaces upon high temperature annealing was proposed to be responsible for these deteriorations. Evidences for the phase decomposition at the metal/ferroelectric interfaces during fatigue were presented. (C) 2010 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/1.3482014] All rights reserved.