A piezoelectric element includes: a substrate; a first electrode which is disposed on the substrate; a piezoelectric body layer which is disposed on the first electrode, which has a plurality of layers configured to contain a piezoelectric body material, and in which the total thickness of the plurality of layers is within a range of 1.6 m to 10 m; and an intermediate layer which is disposed on an interlayer of the piezoelectric body layer, and which is configured to contain titanium.

According to one embodiment, a sensor includes a first film, a first sensor portion, and a first element portion. The first film is deformable. The first sensor portion is provided at the first film. The first sensor portion includes a first magnetic layer, a second magnetic layer provided between the first film and the first magnetic layer, and a first intermediate layer provided between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer. The first element portion includes a first piezoelectric layer fixed to the first film.

Described herein is a method for altering the characteristics of a membrane comprising a dielectric material. The method comprises heating the membrane and applying an electric field in a direction out of the plane of the membrane to at least a portion of the dielectric material. At least a portion of the dielectric material becomes aligned with the applied electric field. In some embodiments, the membrane is piezoelectric and application of an electric signal to the membrane causes out of plane movement of the membrane. Also disclosed are membranes and systems and apparatuses comprising such membranes.

A piezoelectric element includes a first electrode having a film shape and provided on a base portion, a second electrode having a film shape and opposed to the first electrode on an opposite side of the first electrode from the base portion, a piezoelectric film interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode and partially covered with the second electrode, and an insulation film covering the second electrode and the piezoelectric film with extending over at least a part of an outer edge of the second electrode. The insulation film may cover a whole of the outer edge of the second electrode without covering an inner region of the second electrode. Accordingly, a withstand voltage of the piezoelectric film can be increased.

A piezoelectric film element includes a substrate, and a piezoelectric film including an alkali niobate-based perovskite structure expressed in a composition formula (K.sub.1-xNa.sub.x)NbO.sub.3 (0.4?x?0.7) formed on the substrate, the piezoelectric film including an etching cross section including a tapered inclined portion which is enlarged toward an outside. The inclined portion includes a slope angle made by a slope connecting an upper surface edge and a bottom surface edge of the piezoelectric film and a bottom surface of the piezoelectric film, and the slope angle is not greater than 70?.

An electronic device includes a substrate; a first thin-film element formed on the substrate and having a lower electrode, a first upper electrode and a first thin-film part disposed between the lower electrode and the first upper electrode; and a second thin-film element formed on the substrate and having the lower electrode, a second upper electrode and a second thin-film part disposed between the lower electrode and the second upper electrode. Film thicknesses of the first and second thin-film parts are different from each other. The first thin-film part is formed by applying a precursor solution using a printing method to form a first precursor thin-film and imparting energy to the first precursor thin-film, and the second thin-film part is formed by applying the precursor solution using the printing method to form a second precursor thin-film and imparting energy to the second precursor thin-film.

An alkali-niobate-based piezoelectric thin film element includes a substrate, a lower electrode film on the substrate, a piezoelectric thin film on the lower electrode film, and an upper electrode film on the piezoelectric thin film. The piezoelectric thin film is made of an alkali-niobate-based piezoelectric material represented by the formula (Na.sub.xK.sub.yLi.sub.z)NbO.sub.3, where 0?x?1, 0?y?1, 0?z?0.2, and x+y+z=1. The piezoelectric thin film has an element pattern and contains a metal element in a higher concentration near the upper electrode film than near the lower electrode film. The average concentration of the metal element is 5?10.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less in a region within ?15% of the thickness of the piezoelectric thin film from a position corresponding to half the thickness of the piezoelectric thin film.

Provided is a low frequency vibrating actuator device including an actuator configured to generate a vibration by receiving a voltage, a spring structure disposed on the actuator, and a vibrating mass part disposed on the spring structure. Here, the spring structure includes a first thin-film, a first spacer disposed between the first thin-film and the actuator, and a second spacer disposed between the first thin-film and the vibrating mass part. Also, the first spacer and the second spacer are horizontally offset from each other.

A piezoelectric valve may be formed using semiconductor processing techniques such that the piezoelectric valve is biased in a normally closed configuration. Actuation of the piezoelectric valve may be achieved through the use of a piezoelectric-based actuation layer of the piezoelectric valve. The piezoelectric valve may be implemented in various use cases, such as a dispensing valve for precise drug delivery, a relief valve to reduce the occlusion effect in speaker-based devices (e.g., in-ear headphones), a pressure control valve, and/or another type of valve that is configured for microfluidic control, among other examples. The normally closed configuration of the piezoelectric valve enables the piezoelectric valve to operate as a normally closed valve with reduced power consumption.

An optoelectronic component and a method for the producing an optoelectronic component are disclosed. In an embodiment, the component comprises an active zone for generating electromagnetic radiation, wherein the active zone adjoins at least one layer arrangement of a semiconductor material, wherein the layer arrangement comprises at least two layers, wherein the two layers are formed in such a way that at an interface between the two layers a piezoelectric field is provided, the piezoelectric field configured to provide an electrical voltage drop at the interface, wherein a peak doping region is provided at the interface of the two layers in order to reduce the electrical voltage drop, wherein, in the direction away from the active zone, a doping of the peak doping region increases at least by a first percentage value and then decreases by at least a second percentage value, and wherein the first percentage value and the second percentage value are greater than 10% of a maximum doping of the peak doping region.