Quartz on Silicon

The integration of quartz with silicon may provide a route to fabricate advanced piezoelectric devices. [Also see Research Article by Carretero-Genevrier et al. ] The on-chip integration of piezoelectric quartz would be highly beneficial for chemical sensing and accurate timing circuits. However, to date, it has not been possible to achieve single-orientation, single-variant silicon dioxide films with high piezoelectric activity. On page 827 of this issue, Carretero-Genevrier et al. ( 1 ) demonstrate the formation of oriented piezoelectrically active α-quartz thin films directly on silicon. Although the growth mechanism and piezoelectric properties require fuller development, their approach may be an attractive route for developing integrated piezoelectric devices.