The ferroelectric Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 (BLT) thin film and HfO2 layer were fabricated using both metal-organic decomposition and atomic-layer deposition methods. The HfO2 thin film was deposited as a buffer layer between Si substrate and BLT thin films. The electrical and structural properties of the metal-ferroelectric-insulator-semiconductor (MFIS) structure were investigated by varying the HfO2 layer thickness. Transmission electron microscopy showed no interdiffusion and reaction occurring when the HfO2 film is used as a buffer layer. The width of the memory window in the capacitance-voltage curves for the MFIS structure was decreased with increasing thickness of the HfO2 buffer layer. The experimental results showed that the BLT-based MFIS structure is suitable for nonvolatile-memory field-effect transistors with a large memory window. (c) 2008 American Vacuum Society.