A novel structured multilayer piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuator that combined the merits of high displacement/voltage sensitivity, high resonance frequency and low costs has been designed and successfully fabricated using the thick-film screen printing technology. Its structural, dielectric, and piezoelectric properties were also characterized. Experimental results show that the average grain size, dielectric, and piezoelectric properties of the PZT thick-film multilayer actuators are strongly dependent on processing conditions. Under the driving voltage of 10 V, a displacement value of 1.57 μm is obtained, and the corresponding resonance frequency is 56.9 kHz. Only a few layers are required to construct this multimorph actuator, instead of tens or even hundreds of layers that a conventional stacked multilayer actuator requires in order to realize a large displacement, thus greatly reducing manufacturing costs. The multimorph actuator presented in this paper provides a valuable alternative for actuator applications beyond those available with the popular bimorph and longitudinal multilayer actuators, such as for the second-stage track following control in computer hard disk drives.
[1]
David A. Thompson,et al.
Outlook for maintaining areal density growth in magnetic recording
,
1994
.
[2]
M. Okai.
Spectral characteristics of distributed feedback semiconductor lasers and their improvements by corrugation‐pitch‐modulated structure
,
1994
.
[3]
J. Burfoot,et al.
Grain-size effects on properties of some ferroelectric ceramics
,
1974
.
[4]
Kenji Uchino,et al.
Piezoelectric Actuators and Ultrasonic Motors
,
1996
.
[5]
Jonathan J. Bernstein,et al.
Dielectric, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric properties of lead zirconate titanate thick films on silicon substrates
,
1995
.