Ferroelectric and piezoelectric thin films and their applications for integrated capacitors, piezoelectric ultrasound transducers and piezoelectric switches

Ferroelectric and piezoelectric thin films are gaining more and more importance for the integration of high performance devices in small modules. High-K 'Integrated Discretes' devices have been developed, which are based on thin film ferroelectric capacitors integrated together with resistors and ESD protection diodes in a small Si-based chip-scale package. Making use of ferroelectric thin films with relative permittivity of 950-1600 and stacking processes of capacitors, extremely high capacitance densities of 20-520 nF/mm(2), high breakdown voltages up to 140 V and lifetimes of more than 10 years at operating voltages of 5 V and 85 C are achieved. Thin film high-density capacitors play also an important role as tunable capacitors for applications such as tuneable matching circuits for RF sections of mobile phones. The performance of thin film tuneable capacitors at frequencies between 1 MHz and 1 GHz is investigated. Finally thin film piezoelectric ultrasound transducers, processed in Si related processes, are attractive for medical imaging, since they enable large bandwidth (>100%), high frequency operation and have the potential to integrate electronics. With these piezoelectric thin film ultrasound transducers real time ultrasound images have been realized. Finally, piezoelectric thin films are used to manufacture galvanic MEMS switches. A model for the quasi-static mechanical behaviour is presented and compared with measurements.