Very thin piezoelectric cantilevers based on AlN layers using titanium Ti thin film electrodes are fabricated and characterized. By optimizing the Ti sputtering parameters, a very low stress (156 MPa) layers stack with high crystallinity and strong (002) orientation of the AlN films is obtained. Finally, a simple fabrication process, fully CMOS compatible, is developed to realize slender (900 nm) piezoelectric microcantilevers. A resonant frequency of 19.3 kHz is measured for 200 ?m long cantilevers. The deflection of cantilever is 6 nm/V and 189 nm/V for quasistatics and resonant frequency actuation, respectively. This makes the fabricated cantilevers attractive for high-speed MEMS actuators.