Integrated thin-film piezoelectric traveling wave ultrasonic motors

An integrated approach to the fabrication of thin-film piezoelectric traveling wave ultrasonic motors at the mm-scale is being developed for low power, high torque motors for small scale robotics, biomedical, and sensing applications. This paper describes the realization of ultrasonic motor stators ranging in diameter from 1 to 3 mm using wafer scale MEMS fabrication techniques with lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films. Using laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV), controlled traveling waves were demonstrated in the bulk silicon elastic medium of the stator and the standing wave behavior was characterized for control purposes. Furthermore, the resonant modes of the fabricated stators were modeled using finite element models, and experimental results agree well with this analysis.