Effects of the top-electrode size on the piezoelectric properties (d33 and S) of lead zirconate titanate thin films

The effects of a decreasing top electrode size on the electric and piezoelectric properties of tetragonal Pb(Zr-X, Ti1-X)O-3 thin films are investigated. The effective piezoelectric small-signal coefficient d(33,eff) and the piezoelectric large signal-strain S are measured using a double-beam laser interferometer. Both properties are found to decrease rapidly with decreasing size of the used Pt top electrode for the investigated dimensions of 5 mm to 100 mum edge length (square pads). While the loss of d(33,eff) is as high as 75%, the influence on the relative permittivity is only small. The source of the pad size effect on the measured piezoelectric properties is found to be the mechanics of the layered structure commonly used for piezoelectric measurements (Pt/PZT/Pt/TiO/SiO2/Si), [PZT, Pb(Zr-x, Ti1-x)O-3] which is verified by finite element simulations. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.