Since the 1980's, the applications of piezoelectrics to sensors have witnessed a dramatic acceleration and new devices and materials have been discovered. Some of the highlights include electrostrictive materials for positioners, relaxor-normal ferroelectric single crystals with very high electromechanical couplings for medical transducers, thin/thick PZT films for microelectromechanical systems, starting from a sophisticated chemical technology, and multilayer actuators fabricated by a cofiring technique. All will make a remarkable industrial impact in the 21st century.
