Recent changes in legislation restricting lead content in waste streams produced during electronics manufacturing have inspired a strong push to develop alternative lead-free materials systems for piezoelectric applications. One lead-free piezoelectric material system, (100-X)Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅TiO₃-XBi₀.₅K₀.₅TiO₃ (BNKT), has shown promising properties in bulk research, however, difficulties have arisen in the development of...
Pulsed laser deposition was used to create 0.1-Bi(Zn₀.₅ Ti₀.₅)O₃-0.9-BaTiO₃ (BZT-BT) thin films to examine the effects of laser energy (2.25 or 2.5 J/cm²) , pulse frequency (2 Hz or 5 Hz), and deposition temperature (550, 600, 650, and 700°C) on the electrical properties of the films. These effects were analyzed...
This work explores the electric field induced strain mechanisms in environmentally benign Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (BNT) based piezoelectric thin films. Although BNT-based materials show promise as replacements for toxic Pb-based piezoelectrics, the displacement mechanisms are not consistent between thin films and bulk materials, and the differences have yet to be well understood....
The ternary system (Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅)TiO₃-(Bi₀.₅K₀.₅)TiO₃-Bi(Mg₀.₅Ti₀.₅)O₃ (BNT-BKT-BMgT) was explored along the [75-(x 2) ]Bi₀.₅Na₀.₅TiO₃ - [25-(x 2)]Bi₀.₅K₀.₅TiO₃ - [x]Bi(Mg₀.₅Ti₀.₅)O₃ composition line. Thin films were fabricated using chelated mixing route solutions spin cast onto platinized silicon substrates. Processing parameters such as: excess cation molar%, solution molality, and crystallization temperatures, for composition where x=0,...
Piezoelectric materials convert mechanical strain into a dielectric displacement, as well as the converse, allowing these materials to be used as sensors, actuators, and transducers. Currently, lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is the primary material used in these applications. Due to environmental toxicity and safety concerns associated with Pb, development of...
Pb(Zr₁₋ₓTiₓ)O₃ (PZT) is a common piezoelectric and ferroelectric thin film material with a wide variety of applications, including ferroelectric random access memories, novel thin film transistors, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The most common substrate for PZT in all of these areas has been platinum-coated silicon. Alternative substrates are desired for...
Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is well known to exhibit some of the strongest piezoelectric responses, explaining why it is at the heart of piezoelectric-based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) research. The use of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) to synthesize PZT offers many advantages over alternative deposition techniques, mainly regarding its ability to...
Pb(Zr₀.₅₂Ti₀.₄₈)O₃ (PZT) thin films are of interest for their large dielectric permittivity, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric properties. The material has been widely studied for use in high frequency transducers, multi-layered capacitors, and ferroelectric random access memory. Copper foils are an inexpensive, flexible substrate with a low resistivity which makes them ideal...
Piezoelectric materials have been widely used in electromechanical actuators, sensors, and ultrasonic transducers. Among these materials, lead zirconate titanate Pb(Zr[subscript 1‐x]Ti[subscript x])O₃ (PZT) has been primarily investigated due to its excellent piezoelectric properties. However, environmental concerns due to the toxicity of PbO have led to investigations into alternative materials systems....
The lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) solid solution system is currently the workhorse of piezoelectric-based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) research. Among bulk materials it is known to be one of the strongest piezoelectrics, with extremely high piezoelectric coefficients and electro-mechanical coupling factors. Reproducing these exceptional qualities in thin film form, however, requires precise tuning...