Analysis of microstructures incorporating ferroelectric thin films

We have been working on sensors that involve the integration of ferroelectric thin films with micromachined structures. Both surface and bulk micromachining techniques are under development for integrated infrared detector arrays and accelerometers, respectively. These devices take advantage of the pyroelectric or piezoelectric properties of the thin films. A sol-gel route has been used to deposit the ferroelectric thin film, enabling direct integration with the micromachined structures. PbZr_xTi_1-xO₃ (PZT) films with compositions of x=0.3 and x=0.5 have been used for the infrared detector arrays and accelerometers respectively. Several different techniques have been used to assess these films including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy