Thin-film piezoelectric element and method of making same

Abstract

Provided is a thin-film piezoelectric element which reduces the influence of an oxide film left on the electrode film on the degradation of element characteristics, and a method of making the thin-film piezoelectric element. The thin-film piezoelectric element has ZrO2 as the main component of the outermost layer of the oxide film which covers the laminate. Young's modulus of the ZrO2 is 190 GPa, giving a significantly low value compared with Young's modulus of MgO, 245 GPa. Consequently, the influence of the oxide film on the reduction in the displacement magnitude of the piezoelectric film is smaller than the influence of the MgO thin film left in the conventional thin-film piezoelectric element. As a result, the thin-film piezoelectric element decreases the influence of the oxide film on the degradation of element characteristics compared with the conventional thin-film piezoelectric element.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.