Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thick films were formed on several kinds of substrates by impact consolidation of PZT ultrafine particles through an aerosol deposition method. The PZT layers were shown to have a high breakdown voltage of about 700 kV/cm after annealing at temperatures from room temperature to 1000degreesC. After annealing at 600-1000degreesC for I h in air and poling at 250degreesC 40 kV/cm for 30 min, the layers had good piezoelectric properties: -d(31) similar to 100 pm/V, which did not change with fatigue testing up to 109 cycles. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.