A decrease of piezoelectric properties in the fabrication of ultra-small Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)-x%PbTiO3 (PMN-x%PT) for high-frequency (>20 MHz) ultrasonic array transducers remains an urgent problem. Here, PMN-31%PT with micron-sized kerfs and high piezoelectric performance was micromachined using a 355 nm laser. We studied the kerf profile as a function of laser parameters, revealing that micron-sized kerfs with designated profiles and fewer micro-cracks can be obtained by optimizing the laser parameters. The domain morphology of micromachined PMN-31%PT was thoroughly analyzed to validate the superior piezoelectric performance maintained near the kerfs. A high piezoresponse of the samples after micromachining was also successfully demonstrated by determining the effective piezoelectric coefficient (d33*~1200 pm/V). Our results are promising for fabricating superior PMN-31%PT and other piezoelectric high-frequency (>20 MHz) ultrasonic array transducers.
Keywords: PMN–31%PT single crystals; ferroelectric domain; high-frequency transducer; laser micromachining; micron-sized kerf; piezoelectric coefficient; piezoelectric performance.