Provided are a piezoelectric element having high stability, which operates with high efficiency, and a method for manufacturing the piezoelectric element. The piezoelectric element (10) has a laminate structure in which a first electrode (14), a first piezoelectric film (16), a second electrode (18), an adhesion layer (20), an interlayer (22), a third electrode (24), a second piezoelectric film (26), and a fourth electrode (28) are laminated in this order on a silicon substrate (12). The interlayer (22) is formed of a material different from that of the second electrode (18) and has a thickness of 0.4 μm to 10 μm. A device having a diaphragm structure or a cantilever structure is formed by removing a part of the silicon substrate (12). The respective layers (14 to 28) laminated on the silicon substrate (12) can be formed using a thin film formation method represented by a vapor phase epitaxial method.

A method of forming a piezoelectric thin film can be provided by heating a substrate in a process chamber to a temperature between about 350 degrees Centigrade and about 850 degrees Centigrade to provide a sputtering temperature of the substrate and sputtering a Group III element from a target in the process chamber onto the substrate at the sputtering temperature to provide the piezoelectric thin film including a nitride of the Group III element on the substrate to have a crystallinity of less than about 1.0 degree at Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) to about 10 arcseconds at FWHM measured using X-ray diffraction (XRD).

A gallium nitride structure that includes: a substrate; a gallium nitride layer opposed to the substrate and containing gallium nitride as a main component thereof; and a first electrode between the gallium nitride layer and the substrate. The first electrode includes at least one hafnium layer containing a single metal of hafnium as a main component thereof, and the at least one hafnium layer is in contact with the gallium nitride layer.

Embodiments of the invention include an active fiber with a piezoelectric layer that has a crystallization temperature that is greater than a melt or draw temperature of the fiber and methods of forming such active fibers. According to an embodiment, a first electrode is formed over an outer surface of a fiber. Embodiments may then include depositing a first amorphous piezoelectric layer over the first electrode. Thereafter, the first amorphous piezoelectric layer may be crystallized with a pulsed laser annealing process to form a first crystallized piezoelectric layer. In an embodiment, the pulsed laser annealing process may include exposing the first amorphous piezoelectric layer to radiation from an excimer laser with an energy density between approximately 10 and 100 mJ/cm2 and pulse width between approximately 10 and 50 nanoseconds. Embodiments may also include forming a second electrode over an outer surface of the crystallized piezoelectric layer.

A substrate having a surface coated with a piezoelectric coating I, the coating including A-xMexN, wherein A is at least one of B, Al, Ga, In, Tl, and Me is at least one metallic element Me from the transition metal groups 3b, 4b, 5b 6b the lanthanides, and Mg the coating I having a thickness d, and further including a transition layer wherein the ratio of atomic percentage of Me to atomic percentage of Al steadily rises along a thickness extent δ3 of said coating for which there is valid:

δ3≤d.

A method of forming a piezoelectric thin film can be provided by heating a substrate in a process chamber to a temperature between about 350 degrees Centigrade and about 850 degrees Centigrade to provide a sputtering temperature of the substrate and sputtering a Group III element from a target in the process chamber onto the substrate at the sputtering temperature to provide the piezoelectric thin film including a nitride of the Group III element on the substrate to have a crystallinity of less than about 1.0 degree at Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) to about 10 arcseconds at FWHM measured using X-ray diffraction (XRD).

A semiconductor component that includes at least one dielectric layer and at least one first electrode and one second electrode. A first defect type and a second defect type, which is different from the first defect type, are also present in dielectric layer. The at least two different defect types accumulate at one of the two electrodes as a function of a main operating voltage applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, and of a main operating temperature that is present at characteristic times τ.sub.1 and τ.sub.2, and generate the maximum changes in barrier height δΦ.sub.1 and δΦ.sub.2 at the electrodes. τ.sub.1 and δΦ.sub.1 are associated with the first defect type, and τ.sub.2 and δΦ.sub.2 are associated with the second defect type. τ.sub.1<τ.sub.2 and δΦ.sub.1<δΦ.sub.2 apply.

A piezoelectric stack including: a substrate; an electrode film; and a piezoelectric film as a poly-crystal film comprising an alkali niobium oxide of a perovskite structure represented by a composition formula of (K.sub.1-xNa.sub.x)NbO.sub.3 (0<x<1), wherein the piezoelectric film contains at least one element selected from a group consisting of Cu and Mn, and an amount of the element present at a grain boundary of crystals constituting the piezoelectric film is greater than that of the element present in a matrix phase of the crystals.

A thin-film piezoelectric-material element includes a laminated structure part having a lower electrode film, a piezoelectric-material film laminated on the lower electrode film and an upper electrode film laminated on the piezoelectric-material film, a lower piezoelectric-material protective-film being formed with alloy material, and an upper piezoelectric-material protective-film being formed with alloy material. The piezoelectric-material film includes a size larger than the upper electrode film, a riser end-surface and step-surface formed on a top-surface of the upper electrode film side. The riser end-surface connects smoothly with a peripheral end-surface of the upper electrode film and vertically intersects with the top-surface. The step-surface intersects vertically with the riser end-surface. The lower piezoelectric-material protective-film, and the upper piezoelectric-material protective-film are formed with alloy material including Fe as main ingredient and having Co and Mo, by Ion beam deposition.

A method of forming a piezoelectric thin film includes sputtering a first surface of a substrate to provide a piezoelectric thin film comprising AlN, AlScN, AlCrN, HfMgAlN, or ZrMgAlN thereon, processing a second surface of the substrate that is opposite the first surface of the substrate to provide an exposed surface of the piezoelectric thin film from beneath the second surface of the substrate, wherein the exposed surface of the piezoelectric thin film includes a first crystalline quality portion, removing a portion of the exposed surface of the piezoelectric thin film to access a second crystalline quality portion that is covered by the first crystalline quality portion, wherein the second crystalline quality portion has a higher quality than the first crystalline quality portion and processing the second crystalline quality portion to provide an acoustic resonator device on the second crystalline quality portion.