Integrated Piezoelectric Microsystems for Actuation and Sensing

压电式传感器提供了所有已知执行器中最高的定位精度，以及任何已知传感器中最高的动态力分辨率。然而，这些能力仅限于宏观应用，因为压电材料与集成电路(IC)或微电子机械系统制造工艺不兼容。该项目旨在通过制造微型的压电定位和传感器系统，将压电材料的应用扩展到中微尺度。这些设备将包括六轴纳米定位器和超高分辨率加速计和陀螺仪。这项技术将为比宏观系统成本更低、但比硅基微系统提供更高性能的设备创造一个新的市场。

Piezoelectric transducers provide the highest positioning accuracy of any known actuator and the highest dynamic force resolution of any known sensor. However, these capabilities are limited to macro scale applications since piezoelectric materials are not compatible with integrated circuit (IC) or Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems fabrication processes. This project aims to extend the use of piezoelectric materials to the meso- and micro-scale by fabricating miniature piezoelectric positioning and sensor systems. These devices will include six-axis nano-positioners and ultra-high resolution accelerometers and gyroscopes. This technology will create a new market for devices that are lower cost than macro-scale systems but provide higher performance than silicon based microsystems.