The present invention provides a vibrator made of a non-lead-based piezoelectric material and capable of being driven at a sufficient speed with low power consumption, and provides a vibration wave drive device and an electronical device each using the vibrator. To that end, the vibrator according to the present invention includes a piezoelectric element including a piezoelectric material and electrodes, and an elastic body, wherein a Pb component contained in the piezoelectric material is less than 1000 ppm, and a resonance frequency f.sub.A in a vibration mode A and a resonance frequency f.sub.B in a vibration mode B satisfy a relation of an absolute value of (f.sub.B−f.sub.A)>2 (kHz), the vibration mode A and the vibration mode B generating vibration waves in the elastic body with wave fronts of the vibration waves intersecting each other.

A nano-positioning system for fine and coarse nano-positioning including at least one actuator, wherein the at least one actuator includes a high Curie temperature material and wherein the nano-positioning system is configured to apply a voltage to the at least one actuator to generate fine and/or coarse motion by the at least one actuator. The nano-positioning system being a stand-alone system, a scanning probe microscope, or an attachment to an existing microscope configured to perform a method of creepless nano-positioning that includes positioning a probe relative to a first area of a substrate using coarse stepping and interacting with the first area of the substrate using fine motion after less than 60 seconds of the positioning the probe. The movement of the scanning probe microscope is actuated by a high Curie temperature piezoelectric material that limits and/or eliminates creep, hysteresis and aging.

In an embodiment a device includes a piezoelectric transducer element and a support connected mechanically to each other thereby forming an assembly, wherein the piezoelectric transducer element and the support are configured to be jointly deformed under an action of a first force, wherein the support includes a neutral fiber arranged inside the support, the neutral fiber configured to not undergo any change in length during a bending of the assembly, and wherein the piezoelectric transducer element includes a ferroelectric polymer layer or a layer having a composite material including a ceramic material and a piezoelectric polymer matrix.

A hybrid ferroelectric/non-ferroelectric piezoelectric microresonator is disclosed. The hybrid microresonator uses a ferroelectric layer as the actuator as ferroelectric materials typically have higher actuation coefficients than non-ferroelectric piezoelectric materials. The hybrid microresonator uses a non-ferroelectric piezoelectric layer as the sensor layer as non-ferroelectric piezoelectric materials typically have higher sensing coefficients than ferroelectric materials. This hybrid microresonator design allows the independent optimization of actuator and sensor materials. This hybrid microresonator design may be used for bulk acoustic wave contour mode resonators, bulk acoustic wave solidly mounted resonators, free-standing bulk acoustic resonators, and piezoelectric transformers.

The invention provides a process for the preparation of a bismuth sodium titanate (BNT) compound of formula (I) wherein A is one or more of Bi, Na, Li, K, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, La, Al, Cu, Eu, Ag and Zn; B is one or more of Ti, Nb, Ta, Zr, Fe, Nd, Eu and Co; 0<x<0.8; 0<y<0.8; and −0.1<z<0.1; said process comprising spray pyrolysis of a solution comprising Bi ions, Na ions, Ti ions and, if present, metal (A) and/or metal (B) ions.

A piezoelectric composition comprises silver and an oxide containing bismuth, barium, iron, and titanium. The oxide has a perovskite structure. The mass of the oxide is represented by M.sub.ABO3 and the mass of the silver is represented by M.sub.AG. 100×M.sub.AG/M.sub.ABO3 is 0.01 or more and 10.00 or less.

The present invention relates to a method for identifying a solid solution ceramic material of a plurality of perovskite compounds which exhibits an electric field induced strain derived from a reversible phase transition, as well as a method for making such ceramic materials and ceramic materials obtainable therefrom. In particular, the present invention is directed to a method of identifying a solid solution ceramic material of at least three perovskite compounds which exhibits an electric field induced strain derived from a reversible phase transition; said method comprising the steps of: i) determining a molar ratio of at least one tetragonal perovskite compound to at least one non-tetragonal perovskite compound which, when combined to form a solid solution, provides a ceramic material comprising a major portion of a tetragonal phase having an axial ratio c/a of greater than 1.005 to 1.04; and ii) determining a molar ratio of at least one additional non-tetragonal perovskite compound to the combination of perovskite compounds from step i) at the determined molar ratio which, when combined to form a solid solution, provides a ceramic material comprising a major portion of a pseudo-cubic phase having an axial ratio c/a of from 0.995 to 1.005 and/or a rhombohedral angle of 90±0.5 degrees.

An article comprising a ferroelectric material in its ferroelectric phase, wherein the article is configured to enable low-loss propagation of signals with ultra-low dielectric loss at one or more select frequencies.

The present invention relates to a bismuth-based solid solution ceramic material, as well as a process for preparing the ceramic material and uses thereof, particularly in an actuator component employed, for example, in a droplet deposition apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to a ceramic material having a general chemical formula (I): (I): x(Bi.sub.0.5Na.sub.0.5)TiO.sub.3-y(Bi.sub.0.5K.sub.0.5)TiO.sub.3-z.sub.1SrHfO.sub.3-z.sub.2SrZrO.sub.3, wherein x+y+Z.sub.1+Z.sub.2=1; y, (z.sub.1+z.sub.2)≠0; x≥0. In embodiments, the present invention also relates to a ceramic material having a general chemical formula (II): x(Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3-y(Bi0.5K0.5)TiO3-y(Bi0.5K0.5)TiO3-ZiSrHfO3-z2SrZrO3, wherein x+y+z−i+z2=1; x, y, fa+z2)≠0; as well as a ceramic material of general formula (III): y(Bi.sub.0.5K.sub.0.5)TiO.sub.3-z.sub.1SrHfO.sub.3-z.sub.2SrZrO.sub.3, wherein y+z.sub.1,+z.sub.2=1; y, (z.sub.1+z.sub.2)≠0.

A force-measuring device includes a first substrate, signal processing circuitry, a thin-film piezoelectric stack overlying the first substrate, and piezoelectric micromechanical force-measuring elements (PMFEs). The thin-film piezoelectric stack includes a piezoelectric layer. The PMFEs are located at respective lateral positions along the thin-film piezoelectric stack.

Each PMFE has: (1) a first electrode, (2) a second electrode, and (3) a respective portion of the thin-film piezoelectric stack. The first electrode and the second electrode are positioned on opposite sides of the piezoelectric layer to constitute a piezoelectric capacitor. Each of the PMFEs is configured to output voltage signals (PMFE voltage signals) between the respective first and second electrodes in accordance with a time-varying strain at the respective portion of the piezoelectric layer between the respective first and second electrodes resulting from a low-frequency mechanical deformation. The signal processing circuitry is configured to read at least some of the PMFE voltage signals.