A method of forming a piezoelectric device may include depositing a sol-gel film over a substrate and curing the sol-gel film by impinging light onto an exposed surface of the sol-gel film to form a piezoelectric ceramic element. The method may produce a piezoelectric composite material including at least two piezoelectric ceramic pillars over the substrate. The at least two piezoelectric pillars may include at least one layer. The at least one layer having a gradient density, such that a first portion of the at least one layer proximate the substrate has a density lower than a second portion that is located a greater distance from the substrate than the first portion. The piezoelectric composite material may further include a resin separating the at least two piezoelectric ceramic pillars.

An optical circuit inspection probe includes a piezoelectric element and a gel-like medium layer provided at an end of the piezoelectric element to absorb light and convert the light into a sound wave. The piezoelectric element may be formed of piezoelectric ceramics such as Pb (Zr.Math.Ti)O.sub.3 (PZT). The piezoelectric element has, for example, a cylindrical shape. The medium layer is formed of a hydrogel. The hydrogel may include, for example, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Further, the medium layer may contain carbon.

The present invention discloses an SOC PMUT suitable for high-density system integration, an array chip and a manufacturing method thereof. With the SOC PMUT suitable for high-density system integration, vertical stacking and monolithic integration of a SOC PMUT array with CMOS auxiliary circuits is realized by means of direct bonding of active wafers and a vertical multi-channel metal wiring structure; in addition, the extension to the package layer is implemented by means of TSVs, without any bonding mini-pad on the periphery of the array for communication with the CMOS. Thus, the bottleneck of metal interconnections in conventional ultrasonic transducers is overcome, the chip area occupied by metal interconnections in ultrasonic transducers is greatly reduced, the metal wiring length is reduced, thus the resulting adverse effects of an electrical parasitic effect on the performance of the ultrasonic transducer array are reduced.

This invention comprises a panel or system of panels. Each panel comprises a top layer, which is comprised of tempered glass that is highly transparent to allow for maximum light wave transmission. These solar light waves are captured by the photovoltaic cell which comprises the second layer of the panel where this solar energy is converted into usable electrical energy. Vibrations experienced by the photopiezoelectric panel due to foot and lightweight vehicle traffic are absorbed by the PZT sheet layer, which is the third layer of the panel where they are converted into usable electrical energy. The fourth and final layer of the panel consists of the connector plate which serves as the hub and interconnection for gathering the generated electrical energies and transmitting them into the modular grid network to be consumed by various load devices, such as streetlights and other power-dependent city infrastructure.

There are provided a piezoelectric film-attached substrate and piezoelectric element, which include, on a substrate in the following order, a lower electrode layer, a piezoelectric film containing a perovskite-type oxide containing lead as a main component of an A site, and a buffer layer, where the buffer layer contains a metal oxide represented by M.sub.dN.sub.1-dO.sub.e. Here, M consists of one or more metal elements substitutable for the A site of the perovskite-type oxide and has an electronegativity of less than 0.95. In a case of 0<d<1 and in a case where the electronegativity is denoted by X, 1.41X−1.05≤d≤A1.Math.exp(−X/t1)+y0, where A1=1.68×10.sup.12, t1=0.0306, and y0=0.59958.

A piezoelectric device includes a first substrate including a first surface on which piezoelectric elements and a common terminal coupled to the piezoelectric elements are placed, a second substrate including a second surface on which a common connecting terminal coupled to a control circuit is placed, a third substrate placed between the first substrate and the second substrate and including a third surface joined to the first surface and a fourth surface facing the second surface, and bonding portions bonding the second substrate and the third substrate by an adhesive, wherein the third substrate includes a first through hole penetrating from the third surface to the fourth surface and a first through electrode provided in the first through hole and coupled to the common terminal, the common connecting terminal is coupled to the first through electrode and electrically coupled to the common terminal via the first through electrode, and the second substrate includes a wall suppressing an outflow of the adhesive on the second surface facing the third substrate.

A method for separating a removable composite structure using a light flux includes supplying the removable composite structure, which successively comprises: a substrate that is transparent to the light flux; an optically absorbent layer for at least partially absorbing a light flux; a sacrificial layer adapted to dissociate subject to the application of a temperature higher than a dissociation temperature and made of a material different from that of the optically absorbent layer; and at least one layer to be separated. The method further includes applying a light flux through the substrate, the light flux being at least partly absorbed by the optically absorbent layer, so as to heat the optically absorbent layer; heating the sacrificial layer by thermal conduction from the optically absorbent layer, up to a temperature that is greater than or equal to the dissociation temperature; and dissociating the sacrificial layer under the effect of the heating.

A sensing film includes a base layer, a piezoelectric layer formed on the base layer, and a first electrode and a second electrode formed on the piezoelectric layer. The first and second electrodes are spaced apart and electrically insulated from each other. The first electrode includes a first connecting portion and a number of first extending portions coupled to the first connecting portion. The second electrode includes a second connecting portion and a number of second extending portions coupled to the second connecting portion. The first connecting portion and the second connecting portion are spaced apart and face each other. The first extending portions extend from a side of the first connecting portion toward the second connecting portion. The second extending portions extend from a side of the second connecting portion toward the first connecting portion. The first extending portions and the second extending portions are alternately arranged.

A piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer (PMUT) device may include a plurality of layers including a structural layer, a piezoelectric layer, and electrode layers located on opposite sides of the piezoelectric layer. Conductive barrier layers may be located between the piezoelectric layer and the electrodes to the prevent diffusion of the piezoelectric layer into the electrode layers.

Systems and methods for operating a communication device. The methods comprise: immersing an antenna in an electric field of an incident radio wave; producing a net change in electrical charge on a surface of an electrodeformative element that acoustically vibrates when the antenna is immersed in the electric field of the incident radio wave; harvesting the electrical charge produced on the surface of the electrodeformative element to provide an antenna receive function; and providing the harvested electrical charge from the antenna to a receiver circuit of the communication device.