Lead Zirconate Titanate oxide (PZT) thick films with thicknesses of up to 10 µm were developed using a modified sol-gel technique. Usually, the film thickness is less than 1 µm by conventional sol-gel processing, while the electrical charge accumulation which reveals the direct effect of piezoelectricity is proportional to the film thickness and therefore restricted. Two approaches were adopted to conventional sol-gel processing -precursor concentration modulation and rapid thermal annealing. A 10 µm thick film was successfully fabricated by coating 16 times via this technique. The thickness of each coating layer was about 0.6 µm and the morphology of the film was dense with a crack-free area as large as 16 mm 2 . In addition, the structure, surface morphology and physical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) and electrical performance. The dielectric constant and hysteresis loops were measured as electric characteristics. This study investigates the actuation and sensing performance of the vibrating structures with the piezoelectric thick film. The actuation tests demonstrated that a 4 mm x 4 mm x 6.5 µm PZT film drove a 40 mm x 7 mm x 0.5 mm silicon beam as an actuator. Additionally, it generated an electrical signal of 60 mV pp as a sensor, while vibration was input by a shaker. The frequencies of the first two modes of the beam were compared with the theoretical values obtained by Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The linearity of the actuation and sensing tests were also examined.

the development of next-generation pOliable MEMS (Micro-Electrical-Mechanical systems) call for PZT (lead zirconate titanate oxide) film sensors and actuators with thickuess in the range of 1-10 !lm. The aim of this project is to fabricate and characterize PZT films with the thickuess between 1 and 10 !lm by an improved sol-gel method. Two techniques were applied to improve the conventional sol-gel processing: precursor concentration modulation, rapid thermal annealing. Based on the inspection of XRD spectra and SEM, the films of one, two, three, and sixteen coatings from the same sol show the correct crystalline phase. Also the stmcture and morphology of the synthesized film were dense and crack-free with the thickness between I and 10 !lm. The characterization methods of the PZT films for the dynamic performance and simulation were developed. The actuation tests demonstrated the silicon cantilever (4 cm x 7 mm x 0.56 mm) could be driven linearly by the PZT film (4 mm x 4 mm x 6.5 !lm) at the 1st bending mode of the specimen, 346 Hz, with the amplitude of 240 nm. According to experiments, the frequency of the PZT sensing signal was the same as the driving frequency and the signal strength was propOliional to the excitation voltage. This work successfully demonstrates the feasibility ofPZT thick films fabricated by the improved sol-gel method.