Antiferroelectric PbZrO (PZ) films have been fabricated on LaNiO /Pt/Ti/SiO /Si substrates using a sol-gel process. The films with perovskite structure showed highly 〈001〉 preferred orientation. An antiferroelectric phase was identified by the presence of 1/4110 superlattice spots in a [001] selected area electron diffraction pattern. The field-induced antiferroelectric to ferroelectric phase switching was demonstrated at room temperature with full saturation and a maximum polarization of 40 μC/cm . Dielectric properties were investigated as a function of both temperature and frequency. The presence of a conductive buffer layer of LaNiO on Pt/Ti/SiO /Si substrate enabled the growth of high quality and highly oriented PZ antiferroelectric thin films that showed near zero remanent polarization and squared hysteresis loops. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.