Preparation of ferroelectric thick film actuator on silicon substrate by screen-printing

Piezoelectric actuators were prepared on Si substrates that have membranes fabricated by the wet-etching process. Ferroelectric Pb[Zr0.2Ti0.3(Mg1/3Nb2/3)(0.3)(Zn1/3Nb2/3)(0.1)(Mg1/2Nb1/2)(0.1)]O-3 thick films with a thickness of 25 mum, and Pt bottom electrodes and Ag top electrodes were all prepared by screen printing methods. The actuation properties were investigated for an actuator with the dimensions of 3 x 10 mm(2). The influence of membrane's thickness was examined. The displacement of the center of the actuator with a 100-mum-thick membrane was 0.3 mum at an applied voltage of 25 V. An array of micro actuators with the dimensions of 0.15 x 5 mm(2) were also successfully prepared by screen-printing.