Abstract
Piezoelectric shear strain was measured for c-axis oriented epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) thin films. The PZT films, with a composition near the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB), were epitaxially grown on (001) MgO substrates and then microfabricated into a rectangular shape by wet etching of the films. Lateral electrodes were deposited on both sides of the PZT films, to apply an external electric field perpendicular to the polarization. A sinusoidal input voltage of 100 kHz was applied between the lateral electrodes, and in-plane shear vibration was measured by a laser Doppler vibrometer. In-plane displacement due to shear mode piezoelectric vibration was clearly observed and increased proportionally with the voltage. Finite element method (FEM) analysis was conducted to determine the horizontal electric field in the PZT film, and the piezoelectric coefficient d15 was calculated to be 440×10-12 m/V. The d15 of the PZT film represents the intrinsic shear piezoelectric effect, which is slightly smaller than that of bulk PZT, due to the absence of extrinsic effects such as longitudinal and transverse piezoelectric strain or domain rotation.