What are Piezoelectric Actuators?
Piezoelectricity or pressure-electricity is a property of some crystalline materials. When these materials are compressed, they produce a voltage proportional to the applied pressure. Conversely, when an electric field is applied across the material, there is a change in its shape. Piezo-ceramics can respond rapidly to changing input voltages (microsecond time constants) and their positional resolution is limited only by the noise of the power supply. Traditionally, high voltages (1 to 2 kV) were required to produce the desired extensions from the piezo material. This limited their acceptance because of the high cost of power supplies, noise, and reliability. CVI Melles Griot has developed a piezo electric material that operates in the 0 to 75 V range; eliminating the traditional problems associated with piezo actuators. These new state-of-the-art devices can be coupled to our line of flexure stages yielding a positioning device capable of 5 nm precision.
