Micromachined ultrasonic transducers integrated with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) substrates are described, as well as methods of fabricating such devices. Fabrication may involve two separate wafer bonding steps. Wafer bonding may be used to fabricate sealed cavities in a substrate. Wafer bonding may also be used to bond the substrate to another substrate, such as a CMOS wafer. At least the second wafer bonding may be performed at a low temperature.

A method of manufacture for an acoustic resonator device. The method includes forming a nucleation layer characterized by nucleation growth parameters overlying a substrate and forming a strained piezoelectric layer overlying the nucleation layer. The strained piezoelectric layer is characterized by a strain condition and piezoelectric layer parameters. The process of forming the strained piezoelectric layer can include an epitaxial growth process configured by nucleation growth parameters and piezoelectric layer parameters to modulate the strain condition in the strained piezoelectric layer. By modulating the strain condition, the piezoelectric properties of the resulting piezoelectric layer can be adjusted and improved for specific applications.

Embodiments of the invention include piezoelectrically driven switches that are used for modifying a background color or light source color in display systems, and methods of forming such devices. In an embodiment, a piezoelectrically actuated switch for modulating a background color in a display may include a photonic crystal that has a plurality of blinds oriented substantially perpendicular to a surface of the display. In an embodiment, the blinds include a black surface and a white surface. The switch may also include an anchor spaced away from an edge of the photonic crystal and a piezoelectric actuator formed on the surface of the anchor and a surface of the photonic crystal. Some embodiments may include a photonic crystal that is a multi-layer polymeric structure or a polymer chain with a plurality of nanoparticles spaced at regular intervals on the polymer chain.

A method of generating a piezoelectric actuator includes: forming a piezoelectric member upon a rigid substrate; and removing one or more portions of the rigid substrate to form one or more gaps in the rigid substrate, thus defining at least one deformable portion of the piezoelectric member and at least one rigid portion of the piezoelectric member

In one embodiment, a transducer comprises a first piezoelectric stack comprising a piezoelectric material; a first layer in contact with the piezoelectric stack; and a base structure beneath the first layer. The first layer has a first displacement between a first portion of the base structure and the first layer, and the first displacement is configurable by a first bias voltage received by the transducer.

A wafer-level chip-scale package includes a polymeric body having a conductive via passing through the polymeric body and a piezoelectric substrate directly bonded to an upper end of the conductive via. The wafer-level chip-scale package further includes a cavity defined between a portion of the polymeric body and the piezoelectric substrate and a metal seal ring disposed in the body and having an upper end bonded to the piezoelectric substrate, the metal seal ring passing only partially through the body.

The disclosure provides a transistor array including a substrate and a plurality of transistor elements sharing the substrate. Each of the transistor elements includes: a bottom electrode disposed on the substrate and a connection wire for the bottom electrode; a piezoelectric body disposed on the bottom electrode, wherein the piezoelectric body is made of piezoelectric material; and a top electrode disposed on the piezoelectric body. The disclosure also provides a method for manufacturing a transistor array. The transistor array contains transistor elements which are two-terminal devices. Piezoelectric bodies with piezoelectric properties are provided between the top electrodes and bottom electrodes of the transistor array. The carrier transport progress of the transistor elements in the transistor array device can be effectively regulated or triggered by strains or stresses applied on the transistor elements.

A piezoelectric drive apparatus for a motor, the apparatus including a substrate having a longitudinal direction and a widthwise direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, a piezoelectric element provided on the substrate and having a first electrode, a second electrode, and a piezoelectric body positioned between the first electrode and the second electrode, and a contact section that is attached to a front end section of the substrate in the longitudinal direction thereof or in contact with the front end section of the substrate in the longitudinal direction thereof and comes into contact with a driven body, wherein the longitudinal direction of the substrate roughly coincides with a direction in which Young's modulus is minimized in a plane of the substrate.

Methods of making an electronic device and a keyboard are disclosed. One method including providing a flexible film; providing a first electrode underneath the flexible film, the first electrode coupled to a high voltage signal source; providing a second electrode located beneath the first electrode, the second electrode coupled to an input detector; providing a spacer configured to maintain at least a threshold distance between the first electrode and the second electrode; providing a piezoelectric actuator beneath the second electrode, a top surface of the piezoelectric actuator coupled to the second electrode, wherein contact between the first electrode and the second electrode couples the high voltage signal source to the input detector and the piezoelectric actuator; and providing a base plane beneath the piezoelectric actuator, the base plane coupled to a bottom surface of the piezoelectric actuator and a signal ground.

A dual nitride landing pad for a high performance magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) device is formed on a recessed surface of the least one electrically conductive structure in a MRAM device area. The dual nitride landing pad includes a bottom metal nitride landing pad and a TaN-containing landing pad.