To investigate the flow and heat transfer characteristics of a synthetic jet driven by piezoelectric actuator, experimental investigation utilizing particle image velocimetry, hot-wire anemometer and infrared camera was carried out. The results show that: (1) At the jet orifice exit, pairs of vortexes are generated, broken down and merged together periodically, forming a steady jet within a several slot width from distance near the orifice exit. And during the development, the synthetic jet spreads rapidly along the minor axis direction of the orifice. While along the major axis direction, the synthetic jet contracts firstly and then spreads slowly. (2) Excitation frequency forced on the actuator has a great effect on the synthetic jet flow field. There are two resonance frequencies at which the mean velocity and vorticity of the synthetic jet are maximized, especially at the higher resonance frequency.The resonance frequency values obtained by the experiment are lower than the theoretical values. (3) Similarly to the common jet impingement, the convective heat transfer coefficients at the target surface impinged by the synthetic jet also take on up-down tendency varying with the jet-to-surface spacing increment. But the jet-to-surface spacing ratio for optimum cooling achievement is greater and the cooling action region is wider than the former, indicating that the synthetic jet introduces a stronger entrainment and more vigorous penetration in the surrounding fluid.