Measurement of piezoelectric coefficients of lead zirconate titanate thin films by the normal load method using a composite tip

Abstract The measurement of the piezoelectric coefficients of PZT thin films by the normal load method was investigated. In the measurement setup, a composite tip composed of a metallic tip and a conductive rubber layer was adopted to improve the contact between the tip and the film sample in order to reduce the damage caused by the metallic tip. The PZT 50/50 (PbZn 0.5 Ti 0.5 O 3 ) thin films with perovskite structure were prepared on A1 2 O 3 buffered Si wafers by metallo-organic decomposition. The as-deposited PZT films show weak piezoelectricity. The d 33 of PZT films increases substantially to the value of 101 × 10 −12 m/V after the poling process. The PZT thin films are more promising materials than ZnO thin films for microactuator applications.