With the advent of "smart structures", a new generation of microactuators and microsensors are required to perform the sensing and micromanipulation functions on micrometer dimensions. Litton/Itek Optical Systems has pioneered the development of precision displacement actuators fabricated from the electroceramic lead-magnesium-niobate (PMN) for the past decade. Both conventional tape cast and advanced photolithographic techniques have been utilized to extend the PMN electroceramic technology to the realm of the microactuator. The microactuators have been fabricated in small sizes, batch processed, and deposited onto PMN substrates. The actuators have produced unsurpassed displacement resolution, set-point accuracy, and dynamic response. More specifically, PMN is a unique point-of-departure material which exhibits negligible hysteresis, a low coefficient of thermal expansion, low power dissipation, and large electrostrains, all important parameters for precision displacement transducers.