A confocal Raman investigation of Pb1-xLaxTi1-x/4O3 (PLT) thin films grown by RF magnetron sputtering on PbOx/Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates with an intermediate LaSrCoO3 (LSCO) layer was performed. The influence of the LaSrCoO3 buffer layer was analyzed taking advantage of the observed Raman spectral band variation, which varied according to different manufacturing procedures. In the presence of a LSCO layer, the A1(1TO) Raman mode, which was indicative of tetragonal distortion, was pronouncedly enhanced, and a slight deviation from the (0 0 1) plane of the film was observed from the angular dependence of the polarized Raman spectral intensity. Furthermore, the spectral band variation as well as the residual stress along the in-depth direction was measured in the film from cross-sectional spectral line scans. This latter measurement showed a relaxation of the lattice mismatch in the presence of LSCO and PbO layers. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.