Effect of Lanthanum Oxide Addition on Dielectric Loss and Microstructure of AlN Ceramics

Abstract

The effect of sintering additives on dielectric loss tangent and microstructure of AlN ceramics have been investigated. Different amounts of Y2O3 and La2O3 were added as sintering additives to AlN powder and pressureless sintering was performed at 1900 °C for 2 h in a flowing nitrogen atmosphere. Bulk densities of sintered AlN were found to be 3.27 and 3.32 Mg·m-3 when Y2O3 contents were 0.5 and 1 mol%, respectively. The bulk densities of AlN-Y2O3 increased with increasing La2O3 content. Densities of 3.41 and 3.42 Mg·m-3 were obtained for 0.5 mol%Y2O3-1 mol%La2O3-AlN and 1 mol%Y2O3-1 mol%La2O3-AlN ceramics respectively. A decrease in tan δ was observed with increase in La2O3 content and a minimum value of 1.3 x 10-3 was obtained for 0.5 mol%La2O3-1 mol%Y2O3-AlN ceramic in the present study.