Highly (100)-oriented Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 film was prepared on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si by sol-gel route. An alternating electric field normal to the film surface was in situ applied to the as-crystallized Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 film during the reannealing treatment, and its effect on the residual strain of the film was investigated by X-ray diffraction. X-ray diffraction measurement shows that the reannealing treatment in alternating electric field has an obvious influence on the reduction of residual strain in the Pb(ZrTi)O-3 film and platinized silicon substrate. With increase of reannealing treatment temperature in alternating electric field, the reduction of strain in the film increases. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.