A piezoelectric device includes a substrate, a diaphragm; and a piezoelectric actuator, in which the substrate, the diaphragm, and the piezoelectric actuator are laminated in this order in a first direction, the diaphragm includes a first layer containing silicon as a constituent element, a third layer disposed between the first layer and the piezoelectric actuator and containing zirconium as a constituent element, and a second layer disposed between the first layer and the third layer and containing at least one impurity element selected from the group consisting of a metal, a metalloid, and a semiconductor other than silicon and zirconium, as a constituent element, and the impurity element diffuses into the third layer.

The diaphragm includes a first layer containing silicon as a constituent element, a third layer disposed between the first layer and the piezoelectric actuator and containing zirconium as a constituent element, and a second layer disposed between the first layer and the third layer and containing at least one selected from the group consisting of a metal other than iron, silicon, and zirconium, a metalloid, and a semiconductor, as a constituent element, in the second layer and the third layer, a position with a highest concentration of impurities other than the constituent elements of the second layer and the third layer is in the second layer, a position with a highest concentration of zirconium is in the third layer, and a position with a highest concentration of silicon is in the first layer.

A piezoelectric device includes a piezoelectric body at least a portion of which can bend and vibrate, an upper electrode on an upper surface of the piezoelectric body and in which distortion of a crystal lattice is reduced as a distance from the upper surface of the piezoelectric body increases, a lower electrode on a lower surface of the piezoelectric body and in which distortion of a crystal lattice is reduced as a distance from the upper surface of the piezoelectric body increases, and a support substrate below the piezoelectric body, in which a recess extending from a lower surface of the support substrate toward the lower surface of the piezoelectric device is provided.

A method for producing a liquid transport apparatus is disclosed. The liquid transport apparatus includes a pressure chamber plate, a ceramics layer formed on a surface of the pressure chamber plate, a piezoelectric layer formed on the ceramics layer, and an electrode formed on the piezoelectric layer. The ceramics layer is formed by heating an insulating ceramic material at a temperature lower than an annealing temperature of the piezoelectric layer. Accordingly, the atoms of the pressure chamber plate are suppressed from being diffused into the piezoelectric layer.

A pump includes a vibrating plate, a flow path forming member, a pump chamber, and a film valve. The vibrating plate is provided with a piezoelectric element, vibrates due to distortion of the piezoelectric element, and has a gap on an outer periphery. The flow path forming member is disposed so as to face the vibrating plate, and has a hole in a portion facing the vibrating plate. The pump chamber is surrounded by the vibrating plate and the flow path forming member, and has a central space communicating with the hole and an outer edge space communicating with the gap. The film valve is disposed in the pump chamber. The film valve is in contact with the vibrating plate and the flow path forming member when a pressure in the central space is lower than a pressure in the outer edge space.

An earphone includes an earphone body, a loudspeaker embedded on the wearing surface of the earphone body, a gas bag disposed on the base member of the earphone body, a gas actuator disposed on the base member of the earphone body, and a valve component having a valve unit. When the gas actuator and the valve component are driven, the valve unit is opened to control gas introduction of the gas actuator, and the gas actuator is actuated to transmit the gas to the ventilating channel for gas collection, and the gas actuator further transmits the gas to the gas bag for inflating the gas bag, so that the gas bag is expanded and protruded out of the wearing surface, thereby capable of allowing the earphone to be stably worn and attached to a user's ear portion.

An ultrasound transducer in which a plurality of pMUT cells are arranged. The pMUT cells have a plurality of resonance frequencies. Each of the pMUT cells includes a piezoelectric film that is polarized in a first direction that is a thickness direction or a second direction that is opposite to the first direction.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards an integrated circuit (IC) chip in which a pad barrier layer caps a pad of a piezoelectric device. The pad barrier layer is configured to block hydrogen ions and/or other errant materials from diffusing to the piezoelectric layer. Absent the pad barrier layer, hydrogen ions from hydrogen-ion containing processes performed after forming the pad may diffuse to the piezoelectric layer along a via extending from the pad to the piezoelectric device. By blocking diffusion of hydrogen ions and/or other errant materials to the piezoelectric device, the pad barrier layer may prevent delamination and breakdown of the piezoelectric layer. Hence, the pad barrier layer may prevent failure of the piezoelectric device.

A slim-type gas transportation device includes a slim-type gas pump and a slim-type valve structure. The slim-type valve structure includes a first thin plate, a valve frame, a valve plate and a second thin plate. The first thin plate has a hollow portion. The valve plate is disposed within an accommodation space of the valve frame. The valve plate includes a valve opening. The valve opening is not aligned with the hollow portion. The second thin plate includes a gas outlet surface, a pressure relief surface, a gas outlet groove, an outlet aperture, a pressure relief hole and a pressure relief trench. The outlet aperture is hollowed out from the gas outlet groove to the pressure relief surface and corresponding in position to the valve opening. The pressure relief hole is spaced apart from the gas outlet groove. The pressure relief trench is concavely formed from the pressure relief surface.

Provided is a lead-free piezoelectric material reduced in dielectric loss tangent, and achieving both a large piezoelectric constant and a large mechanical quality factor. A piezoelectric material according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is a piezoelectric material including a main component formed of a perovskite-type metal oxide represented by the general formula (1): Na.sub.x+s(1−y)(Bi.sub.wBa.sub.1−s−w).sub.1−yNb.sub.yTi.sub.1−yO.sub.3 (where 0.84≤x≤0.92, 0.84≤y≤0.92, 0.002≤(w+s)(1−y)≤0.035, and 0.9≤w/s≤1.1), and a Mn component, wherein the content of the Mn is 0.01 mol % or more and 1.00 mol % or less with respect to the perovskite-type metal oxide.