The fabrication and structural characterization of a surface micromachined,resonant frequency, Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 (PZT) microcantilever will be presented. ThePZT microcantilever was fabricated using surface micromachining techniques,and used a low-stress silicon nitride thin film as the base material for themicrocantilever onto which a PZT thin film was incorporated. The PZT thin filmis used as both the microsensor and the microactuator. A unique fabricationprocedure was developed in order to eliminate the step of encapsulating thePZT during the removal of the spacer layer. The encapsulation step was avoidedbecause of the difficulty in finding a suitable material, which would protectthe PZT during the removal of the spacer layer yet not affect its materialproperties. This predicament was resolved by removing the spacer layer priorto the deposition of the PZT. The microcantilevers were characterized extensivelyusing an atomic force microscope in an unusual manner. The atomic force microscope wasmodified in such a fashion that the deflection at the tip of themicrocantilever could be measured as the frequency of an electrical signalapplied to the PZT thin film was varied. In addition, an impedance analyzerwas used to characterize the microcantilevers. Simple thin-film, laminatedplate theory was used to obtain a closed-form solution for the modal responseof the microcantilever, while ANSYS was used to obtain modal and harmonicsimulation results. It will be shown that the experimental, numerical, andtheoretical modal results are within ±10% of one another. The experimentaland numerical harmonic results differ by an order of magnitude; however, thenumerical model is currently being modified to more accurately represent thePZT microcantilever. From the information gathered during the structuralcharacterization of the PZT microcantilever, it will be shown that certainhigher-order resonant frequency modes have very large mechanical responses.These higher-order resonant frequency modes give designers another parameterto adjust when trying to optimize the design of their resonant frequencydevice.