Integration of displacement sensor into bulk PZT thick film actuator for MEMS deformable mirror

Bulk PZT thick film actuator integrated with displacement sensor, the so-called self-sensing actuator, is presented in this paper. The PZT film is used as not only an actuating layer but also a displacement sensor, which is achieved by dividing the electrode on the top surface of the PZT film into two parts: central top electrode for actuating and outer annular sensor electrode for piezoelectric displacement detection. When the actuator moves, the piezoelectric charge is induced in the outer annular PZT due to the piezoelectric effect. The total amount of accumulated charge is proportional to the stress acting on the PZT, which is in turn proportional to the actuator displacement. By collecting the piezoelectric charge, the actuator displacement can be detected. A theoretical model is proposed to determine the structure parameters of the sensor and predict the sensor sensitivity. Experiments were performed on the micro-fabricated sensor integrated PZT thick film actuator, and the measured piezoelectric charge is close to the theoretical predictions. The integrated piezoelectric sensor has a displacement sensitivity of approximately 4 pC/nm. In addition, the integration of displacement sensor into the actuator needs no additional fabrication process and has no influence on the actuator performances.     

Development of piezoelectric MEMS deformable mirror

This paper reports on piezoelectric micro-electro-mechanical systems deformable mirrors with high-density actuator array for low-voltage and high-resolution retinal imaging with adaptive optics. The deformable mirror was composed of unimorph structure of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin film deposited on Pt-coated silicon on insulator substrate and a diaphragm of 10?mm in diameter formed by backside-etching the Si handle wafer. 61 hexagonal electrodes were laid out on the PZT thin film for the high-density actuator array. In order to reduce the dead space for the lead lines between the electrodes and connecting pads, a polyimide layer with through holes on the electrodes was patterned as an electrical insulator. To confirm the application feasibility of the fabricated DMs, displacement profiles of the actuators were measured by a laser Doppler vibrometer. Independent applications of voltages on individual actuators were confirmed.     

Effect of electrode size and silicon residue on piezoelectric thin-film membrane actuators

Piezoelectric micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) often adopt a membrane structure to facilitate sensing or actuation. Design parameters, such as membrane size, thickness of the piezoelectric thin film, and electrode types, have been studied to maximize actuation, sensitivity, or coupling coefficient. This paper is to demonstrate numerically and experimentally that the size of silicon residue and its relative size to the top electrode are two critical yet unrecognized parameters in maximizing the actuation displacement of PZT thin-film membrane actuators. To study effects of the silicon residue, we have developed a finite element model using ANSYS. The model consists of five components: a square passive silicon membrane, a silicon substrate, a PZT thin film, a square top electrode, and a silicon residue region. In particular, the silicon residue has a circular inner diameter and a square outer perimeter with a trapezoidal cross section. Predictions of the finite element model lead to several major results. First, when the silicon residue is present, there exists an optimal size of the top electrode maximizing the actuator displacement. Second, the optimal electrode size is roughly 50–60% of the inner diameters of the silicon residue. The displacement of the membrane actuator declines significantly as the electrode overlaps with the silicon residue. Third, the maximal actuator displacement decreases as the inner diameter of the silicon residue decreases. Aside from the finite element analysis, a mechanics-of-material model is also developed to predict the electrode size that maximizes the actuator displacement. To verify the simulation results, eight PZT thin-film membrane actuators with progressive electrode sizes are fabricated. These actuators all have a square membrane of 800 μm × 800 μm with the inner diameter of the silicon residue controlled between 500 and 750 μm. A laser Doppler vibrometer is used to measure the actuator displacements. The experimental measurements confirm that there exists an optimal size of the top electrode maximizing the actuator displacement.     

Preparation and characterization of unimorph actuators based on piezoelectric Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 materials

This paper describes the preparation and characterization of unimorph actuators for deformable mirrors, based on Pb(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃ (PZT52) thin film. As comparison, two different designs, where the PZT layer in the unimorph actuators was driven by either interdigitated electrodes (IDT-mode) or parallel plate electrodes (d₃₁-mode), were investigated. The actuators utilize a unimorph membrane (diaphragm) structure consisting of an active PZT piezoelectric layer and a passive SiO₂/Si composite layer. To fabricate the diaphragm structures, n-type (1 0 0) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers with 1 μm thermal SiO₂ were used as substrates (for d₃₁-mode actuators, the upper Si part of SOI need to be heavily doped and used as bottom electrodes simultaneously). Sol-gel derived PZT piezoelectric layers with PbTiO₃ (PT) bufferlayer in total of 0.86 μm were then fabricated on them, and 0.15 μm Al reflective layers were deposited and patterned into top electrode geometries, subsequently. The diaphragms were released using orientation-dependent wet etching (ODE) with 5-10 μm residual silicon layers. The complete unimorph actuators comprise 4 × 4 discrete units (4 mm² in size) with patterned PZT films for parallel plate configuration or 3 × 3 individual pixels (2 mm in IDT diameter) with continuous PZT films in graphic region for IDT configuration. The measurement results indicated that both of the two configurations can generate considerable deflections at low voltage. The measured maximum central deflections at 15 V were approximately 2.5 μm and 2.8 μm, respectively. The intrinsic strain conditions shaping the deflection profiles for the diaphragm actuators were also analyzed. In this paper, the behaviors of clamped parallel plate configuration without a diaphragm were also evaluated.     

Microfabricated Lamb wave device based on PZT sol-gel thin film formechanical transport of solid particles and liquids

The fabrication using silicon micromachining and characterization of an acoustic Lamb wave actuator is presented. The intended use of the device is for mass transport and sensor applications. The device consists of dual interdigitated transducers patterned on a thin-film composite membrane of silicon nitride, platinum, and a sol-gel-derived piezoelectric ceramic (PZT) thin film. The acoustic properties of the device are presented along with preliminary applications to mechanical transport and liquid delivery systems. Improved acoustic signals and improved mass transport are achieved with PZT over present Lamb wave devices utilizing ZnO or AlN as the piezoelectric transducer     

Development of novel PZT thin films for active sliders based on head load/unload on demand systems

 Micromachined active sliders based on head load/unload on demand systems is an interesting concept technology for ultra-high magnetic recording density of more than 100 Gb/in². The active sliders that we proposed use PZT thin films as a microactuator and control the slider flying height of less than 10 nm. It is necessary to develop high performance microactuators in order to achieve active sliders operating at very low applied voltage. This paper describes the development of novel PZT thin films for active sliders. The sol–gel fabrication process for PZT thin films is developed and the fundamental characteristics for the PZT thin films are investigated. It is confirmed that the PZT thin films have good ferroelectric properties. Furthermore, novel thin film microactuators are proposed. The feature is that the sol–gel PZT thin films (thickness 540 nm) are deposited on the sputtered PZT thin films (thickness 300 nm) fabricated on bottom Pt/Ti electrodes. Therefore, the novel thin films consist of a thermal SiO₂ layer and the sputtered and sol–gel PZT thin films layers sandwiched with upper Pt and bottom Pt/Ti electrodes on a Si slider material. Fabricating the diaphragm microactuator, the piezoelectric properties for the novel composite PZT thin films are studied. As a result, the piezoelectric strain constant d ₃₁ for the novel PZT thin films is identified to be 130 × 10⁻¹² m/V. This value is higher than conventional monolithic PZT thin films and it is found that the novel composite PZT thin films have the good piezoelectric properties. This suggests the feasibility of realizing active sliders operating at lower voltage under about 10 V. Received: 22 June 2001/Accepted: 17 October 2001     

Design of MEMS PZT circular diaphragm actuators to generate large deflections

This paper presents a design of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) circular diaphragm actuators to generate large deflections. The actuators utilize a unimorph structure consisting of an active PZT and a passive thermally grown SiO/sub 2/ layer. The diaphragm structures were formed by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE). Two different designs, where the PZT layer in the diaphragm actuators was driven by either interdigitated (IDT) electrodes or parallel plate electrodes, were investigated. Both finite element analysis and experimental results proved that the IDT configuration is favorable to generate deflections larger than the diaphragm thickness. The IDT configuration creates an expansion in the PZT layer in the radial direction and a contraction in the tangential direction under forward bias, which enables large deflections. At applied voltages of 100 V, an actuator 800 /spl mu/m in diameter could generate center deflections of around /spl sim/7.0 /spl mu/m, significantly greater than the diaphragm thickness of 2.8 /spl mu/m. The deflection profiles for the diaphragm actuators became flatter when an inactive region in the annular IDT configuration was introduced. There was also a proportional reduction of the maximum deflection.     

Thin-Film Piezoelectric Unimorph Actuator-Based Deformable Mirror With a Transferred Silicon Membrane

This paper describes a proof-of-concept deformable mirror (DM) technology, with a continuous single-crystal silicon membrane reflecting surface, based on$ PbZr _0.52 Ti_0.48 O _3$(PZT) unimorph membrane microactuators. A potential application for a terrestrial planet finder adaptive er is also discussed. The DM comprises a continuous, large-aperture, silicon membrane “transferred” onto a 20$,times,$20 piezoelectric unimorph actuator array. The actuator array was prepared on an electroded silicon substrate using chemical-solution-deposited 2-$mu m$-thick PZT films working in a$d _31$mode. The substrate was subsequently bulk-micromachined to create membrane structures with residual silicon acting as the passive layer in the actuator structure. A mathematical model simulated the membrane microactuator performance and aided in the optimization of membrane thicknesses and electrode geometries. Excellent agreement was obtained between the model and the experimental results. The resulting piezoelectric unimorph actuators with patterned PZT films produced large strokes at low voltages. A PZT unimorph actuator, 2.5 mm in diameter with optimized PZT/silicon thickness and design showed a deflection of 5.7$~mu m$at 20 V. A DM structure with a 20-$mu m$-thick silicon membrane mirror (50 mm$times,$50 mm area) supported by 400 PZT unimorph actuators was successfully fabricated and optically characterized. The measured maximum mirror deflection at 30 V was approximately 1$~mu m$. An assembled DM showed an operating frequency bandwidth of 30 kHz and an influence function of approximately 30%. 1738     

What happens turning a 250-μm-thin piezo-stack sideways?

Usually when piezoelectric membrane actuators are mentioned, one classically thinks of a passive membrane with a piezoelectric actuator on top. In this paper omitting the passive membrane will be suggested. Therefore, the piezoelectric actuator will not be commonly designed as plate capacitor structure, such as that the piezoelectric material sitting between two plate electrodes. Rather will the actuation be caused by structured surface electrodes on only one side of the piezoelectric material, leaving the opposite side free of potential. Several surface electrode designs, starting with interdigital parallel structures, known from surface acoustic wave transducers, spiral and ring structures, ending with star-shaped structures, are tested. The main advantage of this actuation principle is that with the varying electrode design it became possible to also generate an upward movement, i.e., in the direction of electrode side of the membrane. This upward movement has not been achieved with any piezoelectric membrane actuator so far.     

A cross-junction channel valveless-micropump with PZT actuation

A gas-jet micro pump with novel cross-junction channel has been designed and fabricated using a Si micromachining process. The valveless micro pump is composed of a piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) diaphragm actuator and fluidic network. The design of the valveless pump focuses on a cross-junction formed by the neck of the pump chamber and one outlet and two opposite inlet channels. The structure of cross-junction allows differences in fluidic resistance and fluidic momentum inside the channels during each PZT diaphragm vibration cycle, which leads to the gas flow being rectified without valves. The flow channels were easily fabricated by using silicon etching process. To investigate the effects of the structure of the cross-junction on the gas flow rate, two types of pump with different cross-junction were studied. The design and simulation were done using ANSYS-Fluent software. The simulations and experimental data revealed that the step-nozzle structure is much more advantageous than the planar structure. A flow rate of 5.2 ml/min was obtained for the pump with step structure when the pump was driven at its resonant frequency of 7.9 kHz by a sinusoidal voltage of 50 V_p–p.     

Design and control of a single-stage dual-actuator system for high-precision manufacturing

This paper proposes a design for the linear state feedback control of the dual-actuator system, which is a dual-input single-output system for the high-precision manufacturing stage. The proposed control prevents saturation or reduces the unnecessary movement of the piezoelectric (PZT) actuator at the transient response by tracking the error between the estimated and actual positions of the coarse-actuator system at each control sample. Also, a new mechanism of the single-stage dual actuator is introduced. The axes of the stepper motor and the PZT actuator are co-axial. The coupling effects between the stepper motor and the PZT actuator are considered. Both the simulation and experiment results show that the proposed algorithm successfully prevents unwanted motions of the PZT actuator at the transient response. The experiment results show that the settling time and overshoot were enhanced by 45.7 and 95.9 %, respectively, for the proposed algorithm when the reference distance was 10 μm, which exceeds the stroke of the PZT actuator.     

Modeling of single and multilayer polyvinylidene fluoride film for micro pump actuation

Micro pumps are essential components of micro devices such as drug delivery systems. Large numbers of pumps have been proposed based on different actuating principles. Piezoelectric actuation offers advantages such as reliability and energy efficiency. Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) based piezoelectric actuation for micro pumps is predominantly explored despite its disadvantages such as brittle nature, low straining and difficulties in processing. Polymer piezoelectric materials like polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) could be promising replacements for PZT owing to their availability in form of films and good strain coefficients. Very limited literature on micro pump with PVDF as an actuator is available. In this paper, finite element analysis (FEA) model of a micro pump actuator using single and multilayer PVDF for actuation is developed in ANSYS^?. The model takes into account the influence of driving voltage and actuator geometry. The central deflection of the pump diaphragm which is instrumental in defining the pump performance is studied for driving voltages of 100?C200?V. The deflection of the pump diaphragm for single layer and multilayer actuation are determined from the model. It could be inferred from the initial part of the study that pump performance depends on driving voltage and actuator film thickness. In order to reduce driving voltage requirement multilayer stacked actuator is tried with four different configurations of the layers. It is concluded that stacking configuration of parallel energized straight polarity PVDF layers yielded best central deflection. An attempt is made to compare the performance of multilayer actuator with an equivalent single thick layer actuator. It is noticed that the multilayer actuator performance was better by about 101% when number of layers is doubled.     

A micromachined reaction force actuator (RFA) for a nanomanipulator preparation

A reaction force actuator (RFA) was fabricated to translate a microstage with nanostep movement, and its performance was experimentally evaluated using an optical fiber based built-in microinterferometer. The proposed RFA consists of a shuttle mass, movable electrode, fixed electrode, springs, and spring anchor, all of which reside on the movable substrate. The RFA placed on the platform is free to move when the driving force is larger than the static friction. The fixed electrodes are gold-wired to the external electrodes on the platform covered with a dielectric layer for electrical isolation. When external voltage is applied to the electrodes, the springs experience deflections, and the electrostatic force and restoring force react on the movable substrate through the spring anchor and the fixed electrode, respectively. If the driving voltage is large enough that the resultant force overcomes the friction from the platform, the RFA including the movable substrate can make a displacement with no physical collision between the movable and fixed electrodes. In order to suppress the drift motion due to external noise, electrostatic pressure was applied between the movable substrate and the platform on which a 100-/spl mu/m-thick dielectric thin film is positioned. The nanomotion of the fabricated actuator was evaluated with various voltages using an optical fiber interferometer. The minimum step movement 1.21/spl plusmn/0.24 nm was experimentally obtained at the driving voltage of 18 V, and the estimated total displacement was 450 nm at the highest affordable driving voltage of 85 V.     

Membrane microcantilever arrays fabrication with PZT thin films for nanorange movement

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric thin films have been prepared by sol-gel method to fabricate microcantilever arrays for nano-actuation with potential applications in the hard disk drives. In order to solve the silicon over-etching problem, which leads to a low production yield in the microcantilever fabrication process, a new fabrication process using DRIE etching of silicon from the front side of the silicon wafer has been developed. Silicon free membrane microcantilevers with PZT thin films of 1 μm in thickness have been successfully fabricated with almost 100% yield by this new process. Annealing temperature and time are critical to the preparation of the sol-gel PZT thin film. The fabrication process of microcantilever arrays in planar structure will be presented. Key issues on the fabrication of the cantilever are the compatible etching process of PZT thin film and the compensation of thin film stress in all layers to obtain a flat multi-layer structure.     

Novel piezoelectric actuator control slider using transverse-mode deformation

This work proposes a novel structure design of active slider with a piezoelectric actuator at the top of the slider body and a soft layer between the substrate and head elements, to efficiently control the flying height of slider. A parametric simulation was performed to obtain an optimize dimension of PZT actuator and the most efficient soft material. Then three types of slider structures were designed and investigated with considering air bearing effects to achieve large actuation efficiency.     

Active-head sliders using piezoelectric thin films for flying height control

This paper describes design and fabrication of a MEMS-based active-head slider using a PZT thin film for flying height control in hard disk drives. A piezoelectric cantilever integrated in the air bearing slider is used to adjust the flying height individually. An air bearing surface (ABS) geometry that minimizes the aerodynamic lift force generated beneath the head has been designed based on the molecular gas film lubrication (MGL) theory. The sliders with PZT actuators were fabricated monolithically by silicon micromachining process. Performance of the actuator was tested by using an optical surface profiler. Furthermore, the fabricated slider was mounted on a suspension and the flying height of the slider above a spinning disk has been measured by multiple wavelength interferometry. Change in the head-disk spacing has been successfully confirmed by applying voltage to the actuator.     

Development of 2D Microdisplay Using an Integrated Microresonating Waveguide Scanning System

Our research team has developed a 2D micro image display device that can potentially overcome the size reduction limits while maintaining the high-image resolution and field of view obtained by mirror-based display systems. The basic design of the optical scanner includes a microfabricated SU-8 cantilever waveguide that is electromechanically deflected by a piezoelectric actuator. From the distal tip of the cantilever waveguide, a light beam is emitted and the direction of propagation is displaced along two orthogonal directions. The waveforms for the actuator and the LED light modulation are generated and controlled using a field programmable gate array. Our recent study is an update to the previously-reported mechanical scanner, replacing the hand-built PZT scanner and fiber waveguide with a microfabricated system incorporating aerosol-deposited PZT thin film and a polymeric SU-8 wave guide. In this article, we report on the design and fabrication of a prototype miniaturized 2D scanner, discuss optical and mechanical the modeling of the system's properties and present the experimental results.     

Investigation on packaging parameters of a circular multi-layered diaphragm-type piezoelectric actuator

This paper discusses the effect of the structure and packing conditions of centre displacement of the membrane in a circular piezoelectric actuator. A mathematical model was constructed using classical laminated plate theory (CLPT) to describe the transverse displacement of a circular actuator. In the applied loading simulation, the effect on static displacement from varying the thickness in each layer of the structure as well as the packaging boundary constraint methods was studied. Results show the radius and thickness of the thin film has little effect on the maximum displacement, however an increase in elastic modulus decreased the maximum transverse displacement.     

On stress singularity at the interface edge between piezoelectric thin film and elastic substrate

This paper deals with the modeling aspects of the stress singularity at the interface edges between piezoelectric thin film and elastic substrate. The electro-elastic problem of a transversely isotropic piezoelectric thin film attached to an elastic substrate is treated theoretically. Emphasis is placed on the investigation of the singularity in the stress field at the free edge of interface. The eigen-equation determining the order of the singularity is derived. Numerical results for two edge geometries are presented for PZT film/silicon substrate combinations. It is shown that the orders of the stress singularities range from 0.1 to 0.3 for the considered cases. Moreover, piezoelectric effects may alter the singularity order to some extent, but not significantly.     

Characterisation of PZT thin film micro-actuators using a silicon micro-force sensor

This paper reports on the measurements of displacement and blocking force of piezoelectric micro-cantilevers. The free displacement was studied using a surface profiler and a laser vibrometer. The experimental data were compared with an analytical model which showed that the PZT thin film has a Young's modulus of 110 GPa and a piezoelectric coefficient d_31,f of 30 pC/N. The blocking force was investigated by means of a micro-machined silicon force sensor based on the silicon piezoresistive effect. The generated force was detected by measuring a change in voltage within a piezoresistors bridge. The sensor was calibrated using a commercial nano-indenter as a force and displacement standard. Application of the method showed that a 700 μm long micro-cantilever showed a maximum displacement of 800 nm and a blocking force of 0.1 mN at an actuation voltage of 5 V, within experimental error of the theoretical predictions based on the known piezoelectric and elastic properties of the PZT film.