High Piezoelectric Longitudinal Coefficients in Sol–gel PZT Thin Film Multilayers

Abstract

A five-layer stack of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films with Pt electrodes was fabricated for potential applications in nanoactuator systems. The 1 lm thick PZT films were deposited by a sol-gel technique, the platinum electrodes by sputtering. The PZT films were crack-free, in spite of the use of silicon as a substrate, suggesting an increased toughness of the metal-ceramic composite. For piezoelectric characterization, the intermediate electrodes were liberated by successive etching of the PZT and Pt layers, obtaining a functional three-layer stack. A total thickness change of 5.2 nm was achieved with 10 V, measured by double beam laser interferometry. The small signal response was obtained as 0.49 nm/V. Finite element simulations were made to account for the thickness change in the substrate due to the transverse piezoelectric effect. The average response corresponds to an average d 33,f of 120 pm/V. The multiple annealed buried layers show clearly a better performance with up to 175 pm/V. It is concluded that the electrode interfaces in the interior exhibit higher qualities, as supported by transmission electron microscopy, and that the multiple anneals were beneficial for PZT thin film quality.(1) Multilayer Concept A ML actuator is a stack of N ceramic layers, which are electrically connected in parallel (see the book of Moulson). 15 As the electrodes used for actuation are the same as those used for poling, the polarity of an applied electric field is the G. Brennecka-contributing editor Manuscript No. 34139.

Ferroelectric PbZr$_{1-x}$Ti$_x$O$_3$ by ethylene glycol-based chemical solution synthesis

“…The film is stable to fatigue for at least 10 7 cycles. These results are similar to those reported in the literature (see, e.g., refs 29,39)…”

High pixel number deformable mirror concept utilizing piezoelectric hysteresis for stable shape configurations

“…33 show a maximum deformation of 0.3% of the total film thickness, 33 which corresponds to the values found in the literature. 34,35 A slight shift of the ferroelectric strain loop is observed, which indicates the presence of an internal bias field, that suggests a small remnant deformation. However, further research is needed to get the desirable memory effect of the film and required maximum deformation for our DM application.…”

Piezoelectric properties of PZT by an ethylene glycol-based chemical solution synthesis

“…A small Pt(200) peak is present due to the top electrode, which is not perfectly (111) oriented. The preferential orientation of the PNZT film can be quantified by normalizing the integrated peak intensities with the intensities of the X-ray diffraction patterns of a powdered sample using the following expression [22]: 155 Undoped Wet chemical [30] 300 Undoped Wet chemical [31] 569 La Sol-gel [32] 269 Nd Sol-gel [32] 325 La Wet chemical [33] 236 BiFeO 3 /CuO/BaCu 0.5 W 0.5 O 3 Solid-state [34] 338 La/Nb Solid-state [35] 520 Sr/Nb Solid-state [36] 255 Nb Solid-state [37] Fig. 7 Plan-view SEM image of a nine-layer PNZT thin-film stack with a PbO overcoat.…”