The invention relates to a ceramic material, comprising lead zirconate titanate, which additionally contains K and optionally Cu. The ceramic material can be used in an electroceramic component, for example a piezoelectric actuator. The invention also relates to methods for producing the ceramic material and the electronic component.

The present invention relates to a method for producing piezoelectric multi-layered components (2), which comprises the following steps: applying an electrode material (5) to green sheets (3) containing a piezoelectric material, applying a layer of a first auxiliary material (9) to at least one green sheet (3) containing the piezoelectric material, forming a stack (1), in which the green sheets (3), to which electrode material (5) is applied, are arranged one on top of another, wherein at least one ply of the green sheet (3), to which the layer of the first auxiliary material (9) is applied, is arranged in the stack (1), sintering the stack (1), wherein the layer of the first auxiliary material (9) is thinned, and firing the stack (1), wherein the stack (1) is singulated along the at least one ply into at least two multi-layered components (2).

An optical element includes a primary electrode, a secondary electrode overlapping at least a portion of the primary electrode, and an electrostrictive ceramic layer disposed between and abutting the primary electrode and the secondary electrode, where the electrostrictive ceramic may be characterized by a relative density of at least approximately 99%, an average grain size of at least approximately 300 nm, a transmissivity within the visible spectrum of at least approximately 70%, and bulk haze of less than approximately 10%. Optical properties of the electrostrictive ceramic may be substantially unchanged during the application of a voltage to the electrostrictive ceramic layer and the attendant actuation of the optical element.

A lead-free piezoelectric material includes perovskite-type metal oxide containing Na, Nb, Ba, Ti, and Mg and indicates excellent piezoelectric properties. The piezoelectric material satisfies the following relational expression (1): 0.430≤a≤0.460, 0.433≤b≤0.479, 0.040≤c≤0.070, 0.0125≤d≤0.0650, 0.0015≤e≤0.0092, 0.9×3e≤c−d≤1.1×3e, a+b+c+d+e=1, where a, b, c, d, and e denote the relative numbers of Na, Nb, Ba, Ti, and Mg atoms, respectively.

A piezoelectric component that has a piezoelectric element including a piezoelectric ceramic layer and a sintered metal layer on at least a first main surface of the piezoelectric ceramic layer and containing a non-precious metal, and a protective layer containing an elastic body covering first and second opposed main surfaces of the piezoelectric element. The piezoelectric ceramic layer contains 90 mol % or more of a perovskite compound that contains niobium, an alkali metal, and oxygen. A thickness of the piezoelectric element is 100 μm or less.

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.

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.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure relates to a processing tool that includes a wafer chuck disposed within a hot plate chamber and having an upper surface configured to hold a semiconductor wafer. A heating element is disposed within the wafer chuck and configured to increase a temperature of the wafer chuck. A motor is coupled to the wafer chuck and configured to rotate the wafer chuck around an axis of rotation extending through the upper surface of the wafer chuck. The processing tool further includes control circuitry coupled to the motor and configured to operate the motor to rotate the wafer chuck while the temperature of the wafer chuck is increased to form a piezoelectric layer from a sol-gel solution layer on the semiconductor wafer.

A multilayer ceramic electronic component is provided in which wet spreading of a metal bump material can be suppressed and a position of the metal bump can be controlled with high accuracy. The multilayer ceramic electronic component includes a ceramic body having first and second main surfaces and first to fourth lateral surfaces between the main surfaces. Moreover, first and second opposing internal electrodes are provided inside the ceramic body and led out to one or more of the second lateral surfaces. A first electrode is provided on the first main surface and contains a ceramic material and a first external electrode that is connected to the first internal electrode, extends on the first electrode. In addition, a second external electrode is connected to the second internal electrode and extends onto the first main surface.

A piezoelectric multilayer component having a stack of sintered piezoelectric layers and inner electrodes arranged between the piezoelectric layers. A region which has poling cracks is present on the surface of at least one electrode, and the poling cracks are separated from a surface of at least one of the inner electrodes by the region having the poling cracks.