Transparent piezoelectric transducers for large area ultrasonic actuators

This work focuses on the fabrication of transparent piezoelectric transducers on glass substrates for ultrasonic actuation. Transparent Lead Titanate Zirconate (PZT) thin films are grown on glass following a sol-gel route and InterDigital Electrodes (IDE) are patterned by photolithography. The electrodes design aims to optimize the volume of active piezoelectric material together with the transparency of the actuator stack. The actuator is used in d 33 mode offering high transduction capabilities, while the IDE design allows for increasing the area of the actuator in the cm 2 range. The results demonstrate that fully transparent actuators with ultrasonic range resonant frequency (∼100 kHz) can be fabricated on glass substrates and peak-to-peak displacement of 300 nm is demonstrated. Direct applications of these actuators are haptic devices for tactile sensation of surface roughness.