Theoretical calculations and performance results of a PZT thin film actuator.
High piezoelectric coupling coefficients of PZT-based material systems can be employed for actuator functions in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) offering displacements and forces which outperform standard solutions. This paper presents simulation, fabrication, and development results of a stress-compensated, PZT-coated cantilever concept in which a silicon bulk micromachining process is used in combination with a chemical solution deposition (CSD) technique. Due to an analytical approach and a finite element method (FEM) simulation for a tip displacement of 10 microm, the actuator was designed with a cantilever length of 300 microm to 1000 microm. Special attention was given to the Zr/Ti ratio of the PZT thin films to obtain a high piezoelectric coefficient. For first characterizations X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), hysteresis-, current-voltage I(V)- and capacitance-voltage C(V)-measurements were carried out.
Hoffmann
Marcus
M
Electroceramic Materials Research Laboratories, RWTH Aachen, Sommerfeldstrasse 24, 52074 Aachen, Germany. hoffmann@iwe.rwth-aachen.de
Küppers
Hartmut
H
Schneller
Theodor
T
Böttger
Ulrich
U
Schnakenberg
Uwe
U
Mokwa
Wilfried
W
Waser
Rainer
R