Laser Doppler vibrometry for piezoelectric coefficient ($$d_{33}$$) measurements in irradiated aluminum nitride

Journal Article · Wed Sep 21 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Sensors and Actuators. A, Physical

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sna.2022.113886 · OSTI ID:1891414

Sun, Hongbin  ^[1]; Zarkadoula, Eva  ^[1]; Crespillo, Miguel L. ^[2]; Weber, William J.  ^[3]; Rathod, Vivek  ^[1]; Zinkle, Steven J. ^[3]; Ramuhalli, Pradeep  ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

Sensors used for experiments in advanced reactors must survive in harsh environments. Few material systems can be used to construct sensors viable for extreme conditions. Aluminum nitride (AlN) is one such material because it has high thermal stability and radiation resistance and sustains good piezoelectric and dielectric properties at high temperatures. In this work, the piezoelectric coefficient $$d_{33}$$ of the AlN single-crystal with thermal and irradiation damage was investigated using an indirect method with a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV). Surface electrodes were deposited on the AlN samples, and the vibration response of the samples to an applied voltage was monitored using the LDV as a function of the excitation frequency. The $$d_{33}$$ estimation was based on the excitation voltage and the thickness-mode displacement extracted from the LDV measurements. Further, six AlN substrates were irradiated with 8 MeV Al²⁺ at three fluences (10¹⁵, 10¹⁶, and 10¹⁷ ions/cm²) and two temperatures (300 °C and 500 °C). The $$d_{33}$$ for the six irradiated samples and one pristine sample were measured, and the measurement uncertainty was estimated based on five repeated tests. All samples were also measured by a commercial piezometer for comparison. The experimental results demonstrate that the piezoelectric coefficients obtained by LDV were about 0.8–1.16 pm/V lower than those obtained by the piezometer. With the compensation of the clamping effect, the corrected LDV values are similar to the piezometer results. Both show similar trends in all samples, which validates the feasibility of the proposed method for $$d_{33}$$ measurement. Based on the LDV results, the irradiated samples show a 12%–22% decrease in $$d_{33}$$ compared with the pristine samples. The samples irradiated under the same fluence at a higher temperature (500 °C) demonstrated a lower $$d_{33}$$ than those at 300 °C. The effect of the retro-reflective tape, sample temperature, and sample size on the $$d_{33}$$ measurement were also studied.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1891414
• Journal Information: Sensors and Actuators. A, Physical, Journal Name: Sensors and Actuators. A, Physical Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 347; ISSN 0924-4247
• Publisher: ElsevierCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English