Piezoelectric micro-actuators for RF-MEMS switches

We have developed piezoelectric micro-actuators for the application of low-voltage RF-MEMS switches. The micro-cantilevers are composed of piezoelectric PZT thin films deposited on Pt/Ti/Si substrates by rf-magnetron sputtering. The PZT thin films are microfabricated into a unimorph cantilever with the length of 500 μm and the width of 85 μm. We could obtain large tip deflection of 1.0 μm even at the voltage of 5.0V. This result suggests that the low-voltage RF-MEMS switches are expected to be realiezed using piezoelectric PZT thin film actuators.