Additively Manufactured Lead–Zirconate–Titanate Thin Films for Hard-Disk Drive Applications

A lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) thin film additively manufactured on a flexible substrate is demonstrated in this article as an actuator. PZT nano-particles (NPs) are first fabricated via a hydrothermal process. The NPs are then suspended in ethanol with a polymer additive to form PZT ink. The PZT ink is later drop-cast on a flexible substrate with two electrode designs for evaluation: sandwich electrodes and interdigitated electrodes (IDEs). The design of sandwich electrodes is difficult to realize because silver electrodes cannot be properly printed onto the PZT film with good conductivity and dimension accuracy. In contrast, a pair of IDEs is successfully inkjet printed on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) tape. Then the PZT ink is drop-cast to form a PZT film. Sinusoidal voltage applied over the electrodes drives the device into resonance serving as a resonator. For hard-disk drives, the 3-D printed PZT films can be used as dual-stage actuators or as absorbers to actively or passively reduce flex cable vibration.