Integrated thin-film piezoelectric traveling wave ultrasonic motors

An integrated approach to the fabrication of thin-film piezoelectric traveling wave ultrasonic motors (USMs) at the mm-scale is reported here for the first time. This paper describes the realization of ultrasonic motor stators ranging in diameter from 1-3 mm using wafer scale MEMS fabrication techniques. Using laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV), we have demonstrated traveling waves in the bulk silicon elastic medium of the stator. Furthermore, the resonant modes of the fabricated stators have been modeled, and experimental results agree well with these simulations.