Piezoelectric/electrostrictive actuator having at least one piezoelectric/electrostrictive film

A piezoelectric/electrostrictive actuator having at least one piezoelectric/electrostrictive unit each including a first electrode film, a piezoelectric/electrostrictive film and a second electrode film which are superposed on each other on a ceramic substrate, or at least one piezoelectric/electrostrictive unit each including a plurality of patterned spaced-apart electrode film strips formed on a ceramic substrate, and a plurality of patterned spaced-apart piezoelectric/electrostrictive film strips which are formed on said ceramic substrate and each of which is disposed between and in contact with adjacent ones of said electrode film strips, the ceramic substrate includes ceramic particles and grain boundaries defined by said ceramic particles, wherein the improvement comprises:

• lead element contained in the grain boundaries existing in at least a selected portion of said ceramic substrate on which said at least one unit is disposed.