A liquid discharge head includes a nozzle plate, a substrate, a diaphragm, and a piezoelectric element. The nozzle plate includes a nozzle from which liquid is discharged. The substrate is disposed on the nozzle plate and includes a pressure chamber communicating with the nozzle. The diaphragm is disposed on a first side of the substrate opposite a second side of the substrate on which the nozzle plate is disposed, the diaphragm constituting one wall of the pressure chamber. The piezoelectric element is disposed on the diaphragm to deform the diaphragm to discharge liquid in the pressure chamber from the nozzle. The piezoelectric element includes a first electrode, a piezoelectric film, and a second electrode. The first electrode is disposed on the diaphragm. The piezoelectric film is disposed on the first electrode.

The present invention relates, in general terms, to piezoelectric thin films with an empirical formula (K.sub.1xNa.sub.x).sub.yNbO.sub.3, wherein 0≤x≤1 and 0.64≤y≤0.95. In particular, the piezoelectric thin film comprises at least two adjacent NbO.sub.2 planes in an antiphase boundary, the at least two adjacent NbO.sub.2 planes displaced from each other by about half a lattice length in either the (100), (010) or (100) crystallographic plane. The present invention also relates to methods of fabricating the piezoelectric thin films.

The present invention relates, in general terms, to piezoelectric thin films with an empirical formula (K.sub.1xNa.sub.x).sub.yNbO.sub.3, wherein 0≤x≤1 and 0.64≤y≤0.95. In particular, the piezoelectric thin film comprises at least two adjacent NbO.sub.2 planes in an antiphase boundary, the at least two adjacent NbO.sub.2 planes displaced from each other by about half a lattice length in either the (100), (010) or (100) crystallographic plane. The present invention also relates to methods of fabricating the piezoelectric thin films.

A film structure comprises a substrate and a buffer film formed on the substrate. The substrate is a 36° to 48° rotated Y-cut Si substrate, or the substrate is a SOI substrate including a base substance made of the 36° to 48° rotated Y-cut Si substrate, an insulating layer on the base substance, and a SOI layer made of a Si film on the insulating layer, and a mirror index of a crystal plane of an upper surface of the SOI layer is equal to a mirror index of a crystal plane of an upper surface of the base substance. The buffer film includes ZrO.sub.2 epitaxially grown on the substrate.

A film structure comprises a substrate and a buffer film formed on the substrate. The substrate is a 36° to 48° rotated Y-cut Si substrate, or the substrate is a SOI substrate including a base substance made of the 36° to 48° rotated Y-cut Si substrate, an insulating layer on the base substance, and a SOI layer made of a Si film on the insulating layer, and a mirror index of a crystal plane of an upper surface of the SOI layer is equal to a mirror index of a crystal plane of an upper surface of the base substance. The buffer film includes ZrO.sub.2 epitaxially grown on the substrate.

A manufacturing method of an epitaxial thin film piezoelectric element includes: providing a substrate; forming a bottom electrode layer on the substrate by epitaxial growth process; forming a first piezoelectric layer that has c-axis orientation on the bottom electrode layer by epitaxial growth process; forming a second piezoelectric layer that has c-axis orientation and different phase structure from the first piezoelectric layer on the first piezoelectric layer by epitaxial growth process; and forming a top electrode layer on the second piezoelectric layer. The thin film piezoelectric element has good thermal stability, low temperature coefficient and high piezoelectric constant.

A piezoelectric member that achieves a high sound speed includes a silicon-containing substrate and a piezoelectric layer. The piezoelectric layer is disposed on the silicon-containing substrate. At least a surface layer of the piezoelectric layer on a side opposite to the silicon-containing substrate is made of B.sub.xAl.sub.1-xN (0<x≦0.2).

Provided is a dielectric thin film including a metal oxide. The metal oxide includes bismuth, sodium, barium, and titanium, at least a part of the metal oxide is a tetragonal crystal having a perovskite structure, and a (100) plane of at least a part of the tetragonal crystal is oriented in a normal direction do of a surface of the dielectric thin film 3.

An artificially oriented piezoelectric films for integrated filters and methods of manufacture. The method includes: forming a piezoelectric film with effective crystalline orientations of a polar axis rotated 90 degrees from a natural orientation for planar deposited piezoelectric films; and forming electrodes on a planar surface of the piezoelectric film. The piezoelectric film has an effective crystalline orientation of the polar axis in a horizontal orientation, with respect to the electrodes, and an effective crystalline orientation of the polar axis in a vertical direction adjacent to an underlying substrate.

A piezoelectric ceramic sputtering target containing a perovskite type oxide represented by chemical formula (I) of ABO.sub.3 as a main component, wherein the component A of the chemical formula (I) contains at least K (potassium) and/or Na (sodium), the component B of the chemical formula (I) contains at least Nb (niobium), the piezoelectric ceramic sputtering target is composed of a plurality of crystal grains; and the average particle diameter of the crystal grains is larger than 3 μm and not larger than 30 μm.