Investigation of factors affecting the preparation of PZT thick films

Many piezoelectric applications require materials with a thickness less tha n 100 mum. As the manufacturing of bulk ceramics of this thickness is not v ery easy, thick films were deposited by screen-printing on Ag-Pd-coated alu mina substrates. Deposits were about 80 mum thick. Thick films were prepare d from a PZT powder and an organic vehicle. The following studies on prepar ation of the layers were carried out: (1) influence of the powder preparati on process (dry or wet route) upon the ink quality and piezoelectric charac teristics of thick films; (2) part played by two different dispersing agent s in the improvement of ink composition and (3) flux addition as PbO-PbF2 a nd Bi2O3-B2O3-CdO, to lower sintering temperatures while maintaining good p iezoelectric coefficients. A comparison of d(31) and d(h) coefficients for bulk and thick films is given. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights re served.