A Reactive-Ion Etch for Patterning Piezoelectric Thin Film

Reactive-ion etching (RIE) under conditions described below has been found to be a suitable means for patterning piezoelectric thin films made from such materials as PbZr1-xTixO3 or BaxSr1-xTiO3. In the original application for which this particular RIE process was developed, PbZr1-xTixO3 films 0.5 μm thick are to be sandwiched between Pt electrode layers 0.1 µm thick and Ir electrode layers 0.1 μm thick to form piezoelectric capacitor structures. Such structures are typical of piezoelectric actuators in advanced microelectromechanical systems now under development or planned to be developed in the near future.