Microfabrication of Pb-free piezoceramic microrod arrays and 1–3 type ceramic/polymer piezocomposite films

A microfabrication method based on MEMS technology was developed to fabricate microscale multifunctional composites with 1–3 type patterned structure by combining silicon micromolding with sol-gel processing. By this method, a microscale rod array of lead-free Na0.5K0.5NbO3 piezoelectric ceramics was fabricated, which has a feature size of 20 µm lateral width and 30 µm height. Piezoceramic/epoxy composite thick films containing such an array as piezoelectric-active fillers were fabricated by vacuum infiltration, in which the piezoelectricity of the embedded Na0.5K0.5NbO3 rods was confirmed by a scanning probe system.