Direct Patterning of Piezoelectric Thin Films by Inkjet Printing

Abstract Inkjet printing is currently gaining momentum as a low‐cost and eco‐friendly additive manufacturing technique for electronics. Patterning of functional metal oxide thin films on high surface energy substrates via inkjet printing remains a challenge and requires assistance from lithographic processes. This work unveils a novel process for lithography and etching‐free patterning of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films on pristine platinized silicon through the use of inkjet‐printed alkanethiolate‐based templates. The technique requires neither lithography nor etching, respectively, before and after PZT printing. The described process allows for feature sizes in the sub‐100 µm range with control over the thickness of the final film. Inkjet‐printed PZT displays typical ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of solution‐derived thin films, with remnant polarization 13 µC cm⁻², coercive field 58 kV cm⁻¹, permittivity 900, dielectric losses 0.07, and effective longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient 50 pm V⁻¹.