Thin films of the piezoceramic lead zirconate titanate (PZT) of composition Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O-3 have been prepared on a platinized GaAs substrate system using a propanediol based sol-gel technique. A Si3N4 buffer layer was deposited onto the GaAs by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition so as to minimize Ga and As diffusion during film fabrication. Rapid thermal processing (RTP) techniques were used to thermally decompose the sol-gel layer to PZT in a further effort to avoid problems of Ga and As diffusion. Adhesion between the electrode and substrate was found to improve when an intermediate Ti layer deposited between the Pt and Si3N4 was oxidized prior to depositing the Pt layer. A crystalline PZT film was produced on the Pt/TiO2/Si3N4/GaAs by firing the sol-gel coating at 350 degrees C for 1 min and then at 650 degrees C for 10 s using RTP. A single deposition of precursor sol resulted in a film 0.5 mu m thick. Measured average values of remanant polarization and coercive field were 14 mu C cm(-2) and 47 kV cm(-1), respectively. The polarization value is rather low, as conventionally fired films on silicon have remanent polarization values of 20-30 mu C cm(-2); the lower values may be due to incomplete crystallization during RTP, but a degradation of properties due to Ga-As diffusion, despite the precautions, cannot be ruled out at this stage.