ABSTRACT Pulse switching properties were studied in polycrystalline Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 capacitors to check a recently proposed nucleation limited switching (NLS) model, where very wide switching was observed. The backing-switching responses (P b) at the end of writing pulses were studied to understand the role of writing pulse together with switching polarization (Δ P). The P b+Δ P, with high enough write voltage, is almost independent of writing pulse width (t w), even though Δ P is observed to increase with increasing t w. From these results, it is concluded that the NLS dynamics are attributed to the switching and poling processes with external fields around coercive fields.