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Vertical comb drive actuator for the measurement of piezoelectric coefficients in small-scale systems.

Wooldridge, J; Muniz-Piniella, A; Stewart, M; Shean, T A V; Weaver, P M; Cain, M G (2013) Vertical comb drive actuator for the measurement of piezoelectric coefficients in small-scale systems. J. Micromechan. Microeng., 23 (3). 035028

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Abstract

A MEMS vertical levitation comb drive actuator has been created for the measurement of piezoelectric coefficients in thin/thick films or piezoelectrically active micro-scale components of other MEMS devices. The device exerts a dynamic force of 33 µN at an applied voltage of 100V. The charge developed on the piezoelectric test device is measured using a charge sensitive pre-amplifier and lock-in technique, enabling measurements down to 1×10-5pC. The system was tested with ten different piezoelectric samples with coefficients in the range 70-1375pCN-1 and showed a good correlation to measurements performed with macroscopic applied stresses, and piezoelectric impedance resonance techniques. The measurement of the direct piezoelectric effect in micro- and nano-scale piezo-materials has been made possible using MEMS processing technology. A new MEMS metrology device has been developed and fully characterised in order to accurately evaluate the functional properties of piezoelectric materials at the scale required in micro to nanoscale applications.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: MEMS piezoelectricity
Subjects: Advanced Materials
Advanced Materials > Functional Materials
Identification number/DOI: 10.1088/0960-1317/23/3/035028
Last Modified: 02 Feb 2018 13:14
URI: http://eprintspublications.npl.co.uk/id/eprint/5733

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