Scaling of piezoelectric properties in nanometre to micrometre scale

Measurements of piezoelectric response have been performed using atomic force microscopy (AFM) on sol-gel produced lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) thin films, upon which nanometre- to micrometre-scale electrodes have been patterned. It is found that the magnitude of the piezoelectric response as a function of the electrode size in the range from a few nanometres up to 6 /spl mu/m can be described accurately in terms of the fringing of the electric field around the electrode edges.