COMSOL Blog

Piezoelectric Materials: Crystal Orienta=on and

Poling Direc=on
by Supra=k DaAa February 14, 2014

The direct and inverse piezoelectric e2ects are strongly related to how anisotropic the material is, which in turn is
related to the crystalline structure of the piezoelectric material. The extent of anisotropy can also be in=uenced
by a process called poling. Here, I’ll discuss how you can correctly model the crystal orientaAon and poling
direcAon of a piezoelectric material in your COMSOL simulaAons.

About the Piezoelectric E0ect

In previous blog posts, we have introduced you to the piezoelectric e+ect (hHp://www.comsol.com/blogs/what-
is-piezoelectricity/) and how you can use this e2ect in devices such as ultrasonic micromotors
(hHp://www.comsol.com/blogs/ultrasonic-micro-motors-its-all-in-the-shape/) and thin Mlm BAW resonators
(hHp://www.comsol.com/blogs/piezoelectric-baw-resonator-modeling/). For a quick recap, the direct
piezoelectric e2ect refers to a change in the electrical polarizaAon of the material when it is subjected to a
mechanical stress. On the other hand, the inverse e2ect refers to a deformaAon of the material when it is
subjected to an external electric Meld.

Piezoelectric E0ect Arises From Crystal Structure

The piezoelectric e2ect is exhibited by 20 out of 32 crystal classes and is always associated with
noncentrosymmetric crystals. Naturally occurring materials, such as quartz, exhibit this e2ect as a result of their
crystalline structure. Engineered materials, like lead zirconate Atanate (PZT) for instance, are subjected to a
process called poling to impart the piezoelectric behavior. Let’s Mnd out what happens at the microscopic scale
that helps in creaAng the piezoelectric e2ect.

A perovskite unit cell showing the o6-centered 8tanium ion.

A typical noncentrosymmetric crystal structure such as a perovskite (calcium Atanate — CaTiO3) has a net non-
zero charge in each unit cell of the crystal. However, as a result of the Atanium ion si[ng slightly o2-center inside
the unit cell, an electrical polarity develops, thereby turning the unit cell e2ecAvely into an electric dipole. A
mechanical stress on the crystal further shi\s the posiAon of the Atanium ion, thus changing the polarizaAon
strength of the crystal. This is the source of the direct e2ect. When the crystal is subjected to an electric Meld, it
also results in a relaAve shi\ in the posiAon of the Atanium ion, leading to the distorAon of the unit cell and
making it more (or less) tetragonal. This is the source of the inverse e2ect.

Why Do We Pole a Piezoelectric Material?

In a macroscopic crystalline structure that comprises several such unit cells, the dipoles are by default found to
be randomly oriented. When the material is subjected to a mechanical stress, each dipole rotates from its original
orientaAon toward a direcAon that minimizes the overall electrical and mechanical energy stored in the dipole. If
all the dipoles are iniAally randomly oriented (i.e. a net polarizaAon of zero), their rotaAon may not signiMcantly
change the macroscopic net polarizaAon of the material, hence the piezoelectric e2ect exhibited will be
negligible. Therefore, it is important to create an iniAal state in the material such that most dipoles will be more-
or-less oriented in the same direcAon. Such an iniAal state can be imparted to the material by poling it. The
direcAon along which the dipoles align is known as the poling direc8on.

Alignment of electric dipoles represented by arrows in a material prior to poling (le>), during the poling process (middle)
and at the end of poling (right).

During poling, the material is subjected to a very high electric Meld that orients all the dipoles in the direcAon of
the Meld. Upon switching o2 the electric Meld, most dipoles do not return back to their original orientaAon as a
result of the pinning e2ect produced by microscopic defects in the crystalline la[ce. This gives us a material
comprising numerous microscopic dipoles that are roughly oriented in the same direcAon. It is noteworthy that
the material can be de-poled if it is subjected to a very high electric Meld oriented opposite to the poling direcAon
or is exposed to a temperature higher than the Curie temperature
(hHp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curie_temperature) of the material.

Working with Anisotropic Material ProperAes

So we see that the piezoelectric e2ect arises inherently out of anisotropy in the crystal structure as well as
poling. This also means that piezoelectric material properAes such as the sA2ness (or compliance) matrix,
coupling matrix, and permi[vity matrix are deMned in a certain crystal coordinate system that is typically
denoted by the 123 axes.

ConvenAonally, the poling direcAon is considered to be the 3rd axis, except in quartz where the polarity is
considered to be along the 1st axis. Hence, we need to interpret the material properAes in terms of these
principal direcAons. For example, the coupling coebcient d31 indicates how much the material will strain along its
1st principal direcAon when an electric Meld is applied across the 3rd principal direcAon. This also means that the
material properAes can be used without any alteraAon only if the crystal’s principal direcAons are aligned with
the coordinate system used to describe the material’s posiAon in our simulaAons.

In COMSOL MulAphysics, the material’s posiAon is speciMed by the Material Coordinate System, which is
denoted by the (uppercase) XYZ axes. Therefore, while simulaAng piezoelectric materials, it is of utmost
importance to take its spaAal orientaAon and poling direcAon into account in order to correctly interpret the
material properAes. In situaAons where the principal axes of the crystal do not align with the axes of the Material
Coordinate System, you would want to create an appropriate user-deMned coordinate system to provide a
mapping funcAon for appropriate transformaAon (and interpretaAon) of the material properAes. Now let’s look at
a few ways of implemenAng this idea in COMSOL MulAphysics.

Pictorial representa8on of a z-poled piezo (le>) where the principal crystal direc8ons 123 are aligned with XYZ axes of
the material coordinate system. An x-poled piezo (right) is represented di6erently such that the 1st principal direc8on is
aligned with the Z-axis of the material coordinate system.

Using a Rotated Coordinate System

The Rotated Coordinate System in COMSOL MulAphysics allows you to specify the orientaAon using the Z-X-Z
convenAon of Euler angles (hHp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler_angles). This opAon can be parAcularly helpful if
the orientaAon of the piezoelectric material or its poling direcAon can be expressed in terms of one or more
rotaAons about the default rectangular coordinate system.

Pictorial representa8on of Euler angles α, β, and γ where xyz represents the original coordinate system and XYZ
represents the rotated coordinate system.

For example, the Tonpilz Piezo Transducer (hHp://www.comsol.com/model/tonpilz-piezo-transducer-11478)

tutorial model shows how to set up a rotated coordinate system to model the poling direcAon to be aligned with
the negaAve Z-direcAon. This is achieved by se[ng the Euler angle β as 180°. Another tutorial that shows how to
model a Thickness Shear Quartz Oscillator (hHp://www.comsol.com/model/thickness-shear-mode-quartz-
oscillator-4707) illustrates how an Euler angle of β = – 54.75° is used to represent an AT-cut quartz where the
thickness of the quartz disk is oriented along the Z-direcAon in the COMSOL so\ware.

The disk represents an AT-cut quartz where the 1st principal direc8on is shown with blue arrows. The thickness of the
quartz disk is along the so>ware’s Z-direc8on. The default coordinate system is shown on the boNom-le> corner. The
Euler angles used to create the rotated coordinate system are shown on the right.
In the above example, if the thickness direcAon of the quartz disk is oriented along the Y-direcAon in COMSOL
MulAphysics, then the same AT-cut would need to be represented by an Euler angle of β = 35.25°. Here it is
worth noAng that the term AT-cut does not provide absolute informaAon about the spaAal orientaAon of the
quartz crystal in 3 dimensions.

Instead, it describes the orientaAon of the crystal with respect to the direcAon in which the disc has its thickness.
If the disc is rotated in the COMSOL’s global coordinate system, a di2erent set of Euler angles must be used,
because COMSOL MulAphysics uses the rotated system to deMne the orientaAon of the crystal with respect to
the global system.

In the parAcular case of quartz, it is also important to understand whether the material is polarized in a right-
handed or le\-handed sense, and also which of the two commonly uAlized standards is being employed for the
material properAes (o\en quartz material properAes and crystal cuts are described using the older IRE 1949
standard as opposed to the IEEE 1978 standard that is commonly used for most piezoelectric materials).

The disk represents an AT-cut quartz where the 1st principal direc8on is shown with blue arrows. The thickness of the
quartz disk is along the COMSOL’s Y-direc8on. The default coordinate system is shown on the boNom-le> corner. The
Euler angles used to create the rotated coordinate system is shown on the right.

Note: In version 4.4.0.195 (COMSOL

COMSOL 4.4 (hNp://www.comsol.com/release/4.4) with Update 1), COMSOL
Mul8physics has introduced four op8ons for material proper8es of quartz to choose from. These are,
respec8vely, the material proper8es as described by the 1949 IRE Standard and 1978 IEEE Standard with both
le>-handed and right-handed polariza8ons. The signs (posi8ve and nega8ve) for some of the material proper8es
(such as c14, d11, etc.) di6er depending on which system is used to de`ne the material proper8es. Addi8onal
details on this topic are available in the documenta8on of an updated version of the Model Library example
Thickness Shear Quartz Oscillator (hNp://www.comsol.com/model/thickness-shear-mode-quartz-
oscillator-4707).

Piezoelectric materials available in COMSOL Mul8physics. The material proper8es of quartz are available in both the
1949 IRE Standard and 1978 IEEE Standard formats for le>-handed as well as right-handed polarized quartz.

Using a Base Vector Coordinate System

An alternate opAon would be to specify a set of vectors that relate the crystal coordinate system with the
material coordinate system. This opAon, known as the Base Vector Coordinate System in COMSOL, allows you to
create orthogonal (hHp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthogonal_coordinates) or even non-orthogonal
(hHp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curvilinear_coordinates) coordinate systems. For example, the tutorial model of a
piezoelectric shear-actuated beam (hHp://www.comsol.com/model/piezoelectric-shear-actuated-beam-24)
shows how to implement a poling direcAon that re=ects a rotaAon of the material by 90º about the Y-axis by
specifying appropriate base vectors.

A more advanced usage of the same feature would allow you to create a radially polarized (in cylindrical
coordinates) piezoelectric disk (hHp://www.comsol.com/model/radially-polarized-piezoelectric-transducer-6147)
or a radially polarized (in spherical coordinates) hollow piezoelectric shell
(hHp://www.comsol.com/model/radially-polarized-spherical-piezoelectric-acousAc-transducer-6210).

The disk represents a radially polarized PZT-5H where the 3rd principal direc8on (poling direc8on) is shown with blue
arrows. The default coordinate system is shown on the boNom-le> corner. The base vectors used to create the
cylindrical coordinate system are shown on the right.

There are also other opAons of creaAng user-deMned coordinate systems in the COMSOL simulaAon so\ware
that you could use. For instance, you could create a curvilinear coordinate system for working with an anisotropic
material that is arbitrarily curved in space. You can Mnd more informaAon on this feature in one of our past blog
entries (hHp://www.comsol.com/blogs/using-curvilinear-coordinates/).

AddiAonal Resources
If you are interested in more informaAon on modeling piezoelectric devices using COMSOL MulAphysics,
watch our archived webinar on piezoelectric simula=ons
(hHp://www.comsol.com/video/piezoelectricsimulaAons-comsol-mulAphysics).
A tutorial video on modeling a piezoelectric Tonpilz transducer (hHp://www.comsol.com/video/tonpilz-
piezo-transducer-tutorial) is also available on our Video Center to show you how to implement opposite
poling direcAons in alternate piezo layers in a piezo-stack actuator.
For more technical details on piezoelectric simulaAons and working with user-deMned coordinate systems,
you can refer to the COMSOL MulAphysics Reference Manual, AcousAcs Module Users Guide, MEMS
Module Users Guide, and Structural Mechanics Module Users Guide.