With the PiezoFlare 1200 SolMateS offers the most advanced ferroelectric thin film solutions for developers and industrial users active in the MEMS market. The turnkey deposition system brings the next-generation mobile phones, print heads, hard drives & medical devices within reach. Applications in which piezoelectric thin films are the core building blocks for actuation and sensing.
Piezoelectric Thin Films Create Movement on a Chip
Piezo materials like PbZrTiO3 (PZT) are known for their ability to induce movement (mechanical strain) under the influence of an electric field (surface charge) and vice versa. For decades, PZT has already been used for various applications, including microphones, ultrasound heads, band filters and more. But always in its bulky form. New-generation applications need movement, sensing or both directly on the chip. Movement on the chip leads the way for integrated applications including advanced print heads, micro mirrors for pico beamers, micro pumps for lab-on-a-chip and RF-MEMS for communication purposes.
PZT Thin Films Performance
For actuation we use a composition near the morphotrophic phase boundary and reach displacement values above 180pm/Volts for 2µm thin films and a 1 mm2 pad. PZT actuated membranes and cantilevers are the basic modules and have a stable displacement until 1010 cycles. See our actuation presentation for more detailed background information.
Optimal Composition for Each MEMS Application
For all Piezo MEMS Services there is an optimal composition dependent on substrate and desired functionality. SolMateS provides a wide range of target compositions and process parameters. Development teams can easily find the right composition and can focus on the MEMS design.
