Screen-printed piezoelectric ceramic thick films with sintering additives introduced through a liquid-phase approach

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic films, 30 μm thick, were deposited onto Pt-coated silicon wafers by a screen-printing process. A chemical liquid-phase doping method was used to introduce sintering aids with improved homogeneity in the PZT thick films. Porous thick films with good adhesion were formed on the substrates after heating at a temperature of 925 °C. The morphology, dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of the thick films were characterized. Stable out-of-plane piezoelectric vibration of the thick films was observed with a laser scanning vibrometer (LSV), and the piezoelectric dilatation magnitude was determined accordingly. The effective longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient d33 was evaluated according to numerical simulations with the elastic clamping of the substrate taken into account. High piezoelectric voltage constants were obtained due to the very low dielectric constant of the porous thick films. These films have application potential as integrated piezoelectric sensors.