Parametric Study of Polyimide - Lead Zirconate Titanate Thin Film Cantilevers for Transducer Applications

A. Arevalo[1], I.G. Foulds[1]
[1]King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Published in 2013

The simulation of the piezoelectric actuation of the micro-cantilever is presented. Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) was chosen for the device fabrication design, due to its thin film processing flexibility. Four layers compose the cantilever structures presented in this work: PZT (piezoelectric material), Platinum (electrodes) and Zirconium Oxide as the buffer layer for the PZT film and polyimide as the structural elastic material. COMSOL Multiphysics® was used in order to simulate the d33 mode and calculate an appropriate design parameters of the interdigitated electrodes to obtain larger cantilever deflections.