PSI-5A4E is an industry type 5A (Navy Type II) piezoceramic. Thin vacuum sputtered nickel electrodes produce extremely low current leakage and low magnetic permeability. It operates over a wide temperature range and is relatively temperature insensitive.

When an electric field having the same polarity and orientation as the original polarization field is placed across the thickness of a single sheet of piezoceramic, the piece expands along the axis of polarization (thickness direction) and contracts perpendicular to the axis of polarization (length and width direction). The motion in the thickness direction is on the order of tens of nanometers. Motion in the length direction is typically on the order of microns or tens of microns.