| The motivation behind this research is the complete analysis of morphology, crystallographic orientation, and electrical properties of Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) and Pb(Zr,Ti)O3- Pb(Zn,Nb)O3 (PZT-PZN) thin films, as well as their electrical behavior when the thin films are integrated in a micro-cantilever device for use in energy harvesting.;This objective will be fulfilled through two phases:;1. Material study. The improvement and control of the thin film properties such as grain size, thickness, texture, crystal orientation, capacitance, and dielectric constant, will be studied by controlling the deposition parameters such as temperature, time, stoichiometry, annealing ramp rate, and surface activation energy.;2. Device study. The analysis of a manufacturable, topside processed, low cost, and wet-etch based processes for planar thin-film cantilevers is presented. Analysis of the cantilever device will be realized by stack design, geometry of the device, and proof mass using COMSOL (Fine Element Method (FEM) -based software) to simulate the impact of electrode and stress distribution, resonance frequencies, and output voltage in order to guide the experimental design and fabrication of MEMs-based piezoelectric cantilevers. Packaging of the device is also presented. The analysis of poling treatment as well as bow control of the thin-film cantilever device and their impact on the electrical performance will be presented. Finally, initial studies on reliability, based on mechanical stimulation of the cantilever device, which is a little studied topic for thin-film energy harvestors, are provided. |
