Basic and applied science of electroceramic thin films is an interdisciplinary field that is rapidly evolving worldwide. A major driving force for the extensive research in many university, industrial and national laboratories around the world is the promise of a new generation of advanced microdevices that may transform various technologies, potentially creating new multibillion-dollar markets. Electroceramic-thin-film properties that are being intensively investigated include electrical conductivity, large dielectric permittivity, ferroelectricity, piezoelectricity, pyroelectricity, and electro-optic activity. Perhaps the most publicized application of electrical conductivity of electroceramics is that related to the new high-temperature-superconducting (HTS) materials, which has been extensively discussed in numerous national and international conferences and in the scientific literature. Less glamorously publicized applications, but as important as those of HTS materials, are those involving ferroelectric materials, which is the subject of this MRS Bulletin.