Influences of soldering processes on piezoelectric properties

We investigate the influences of two batch soldering processes and one selective soldering method on the piezoelectric properties of three different PZT materials. The aim of this work is the feasibility of batch processing of PZT components and the required material and process parameters. Samples are subjected to vapor phase, convection and hot bar soldering. Relative permittivity, piezoelectric charge coefficient (d₃₃), quality factor and coupling coefficient are studied in particular to identify changes in the polarization and material degradation. We find that for soft PZT with a high Curie temperature batch processes are viable, while hard PZT exhibits material degradation.