Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol.100, No.1, 235-246, 2017
Structure, Microwave Dielectric Properties, and Novel Low-Temperature Sintering of xSrTiO(3)-(1-x)LaAlO3 Ceramics with LTCC Application
xSrTiO(3)-(1-x)LaAlO3 ceramics with ZnO-B2O3 sintering aid were prepared by solid-state reaction method leading to a significant decrease in sintering temperature from 1550 degrees C to 1050 degrees C. The structure, microwave dielectric properties, and low-temperature sintering behavior were systematically investigated. The results revealed the relationships among ionic size, ionic polarizability and cell volume. With increasing additive, chemical ordering of B-site cations was indicated with selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns, HRTEM images and Raman spectrum, which contributed to the greatly enhanced microwave dielectric properties. Particularly, the 0.7Sr(0.85) Mg0.15TiO3-0.3LaAlO(3) ceramics modified with 10 wt % ZnO-B2O3 can further decrease the sintering temperature down to 950 degrees C without deteriorating its performance. Thermal tests implied ceramics featured good chemical compatibility with Cu/Ag electrode. Thus, they can be cofired with internal Cu/Ag electrodes in special patterns to fulfill different electrical functions for LTCC (low-temperature cofired ceramic) application.