Method for manufacturing piezoelectric element, and piezoelectric element, ink-jet recording head and printer
AssigneeSeik Epson Corporation
InventorsHong Qiu, Koji Sumi, Souichi Moriya, Masato Shimada, Tsutomu Nishiwaki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Provided is a method for manufacturing a piezoelectric element that has excellent piezoelectric characteristics and can be made into a thicker film. A piezoelectric thin film is crystallized by a process in which piezoelectric precursor films 4021 through 4025 containing the metal elements of a piezoelectric ceramic are coated with a material, dried, pyrolyzed, and then heat-treated under prescribed conditions in a diffusion furnace. With this method, a piezoelectric thin film can be made into a thicker film without initiating cracking.
Claims11
A piezoelectric element having electromechanical conversion action, wherein the piezoelectric thin film is provided with one or more layers in which fine crystal grains are present in a prescribed minimum density parallel to the film surface and wherein each fine crystal grain has an annular shape.
A piezoelectric element having electromechanical conversion action, wherein the piezoelectric thin film has columnar crystal grains and fine crystal grains;
- each columnar crystal grain extends in the direction of film thickness, and a plurality thereof are aligned in the direction of film surface, yielding a layer of columnar crystal grains;
- and
- a plurality of such columnar crystal grain layers are stacked in the direction of film thickness, yielding layers in which a plurality of fine crystal grains are aligned parallel to the film surface between the layers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.