DIELECTRIC, FERROELECTRIC, AND PIEZOELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF LEAD-ZIRCONATE-TITANATE THICK-FILMS ON SILICON SUBSTRATES

This article reports the fabrication of thick films of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) on platinum-buffered silicon substrates by screen printing. Crack-free films, up to 12 μm on a single pass, show a dielectric permittivity of 200, tangent losses of 0.05, remanent polarization of 2.5 μC/cm2, and coercive field of 40 kV/cm. The field-induced longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient d33 at 40 kV/cm dc bias and 4 kV/cm alternating field corresponded to 50 pC/N. The magnitude of the piezoelectric voltage coefficient g33, computed from the strain coefficient and dielectric permittivity, under the same conditions, was found to be 36×10-3 V m/N, higher than that of a poled PZT bulk ceramic in comparison. These results are promising for a broad variety of sensor applications. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.