Piezoelectric and Capacitative Microactuators and Devices

Ultrasonic transducers, microactuators and resonators using sol gel PZT films, polymer membranes and silicon machining techniques can take the form of cantilevers, membranes, and array sensors. Static deflections in simple electrode configurations for PZT films supported on silicon or silicon nitride membranes are of the order of 1 μm, while larger deflections can be developed under ac and resonant excitation. High frequency acoustic actuators using capacitative excitation of polymer films have been used to evaluate the performance of piezoelectric sensors.