The present invention provides compositional buffers for electronic ceramics containing volatile elements, and a method for manufacturing and using the same. The surfaces of the fine crystal grains that make up an electronic ceramic such as a bismuth-based laminar compound or lead-based perovskite compound containing highly volatile cations such as bismuth or lead, or a thin film thereof, are covered compositional buffer composed of a silicate- or borate-based compound that readily forms an amorphous structure, and also provided is a method for manufacturing an electronic ceramic using the compositional buffer.

Chemical vapor deposition is used to form a film of Bi oxide, Sr oxide, and Ta oxide on a heated substrate by decomposing the precursors of these oxides at the surface of the substrate. The precursor of Bi oxide is a Bi complex which includes at least one alkoxide group and is decomposed and deposited at a temperature lower than 450.degree. C. The film of Bi, Sr, and Ta oxides obtained by low-temperature CVD is predominantly non-ferroelectric, but can be converted into a ferroelectric film by a subsequent heating process.

A fully amorphous thin film material that is related to ferroelectric compositions which is grown at low temperature, e.g., below 400.degree. C., to yield a material with voltage independent capacitance, capacitance density of from about 1000 to about 10000 nF/cm.sup.2, leakage of <10.sup.-7 A/cm.sup.2, root mean square roughness <1 nanometer independent of film thickness, and an inverse capacitance that scales as a ratio of film thickness, reflecting uniform dielectric constant throughout the film. The film material may be employed for various capacitor structures, including decoupling capacitors, DRAM storage capacitors, feedthrough capacitors, bypass capacitors, capacitors for RC filters and capacitors for switched capacitor filters.

It is an object to provide a liquid composition for forming a thin film, with which a ferroelectric thin film having excellent characteristics can be prepared even by baking at a low temperature, and a process for producing a ferroelectric thin film using it. The above object is achieved by use of a liquid composition for forming a ferroelectric thin film, characterized in that in a liquid medium, ferroelectric oxide particles being plate or needle crystals, which are represented by the formula ABO3 (wherein A is at least one member selected from the group consisting of Ba.sup.2+, Sr.sup.2+, Ca.sup.2+, Pb.sup.2+, La.sup.3+, K.sup.+ and Na.sup.+, and B is at least one member selected from the group consisting of Ti.sup.4+, Zr.sup.4+, Nb.sup.5+, Ta.sup.5+ and Fe.sup.3+) and have a Perovskite structure and which have an average primary particle size of at most 100 nm and an aspect ratio of at least 2, are dispersed, and a soluble metal compound which forms a ferroelectric oxide by heating, is dissolved.