Ferroelectric and optical properties of Ba5Li2Ti2Nb8O30 ceramics potential for memory applications

Abstract

Giant grained (42 μm) translucent Ba5Li2Ti2Nb8O30 ceramic was fabricated by conventional sintering technique using the powders obtained via solid state reaction route. These samples were confirmed to possess tetragonal tungsten bronze structure (P4bm) at room temperature. The scanning electron microscopy established the average grain size to be close to 20 μm. The photoluminescence studies carried out on these ceramics indicated sharp emission bands around 433 and 578 nm at an excitation wavelength of 350 nm which were attributed to band-edge emission as the band gap was 2.76 eV determined by Kubelka–Munk function. The dielectric properties of these ceramics were studied over wide frequency range (100–1 MHz) at room temperature. The decrease in dielectric constant with frequency could be explained on the basis of Koops theory. The dielectric constant and the loss were found to decrease with increasing frequency. The Curie temperature was confirmed to be ~370 °C based on the dielectric anomaly observed when these measurements were carried out over a temperature range of 30–500 °C. This shows a deviation from Curie–Weiss behaviour and hence an indicator of the occurrence of disordering in the system, the γ = 1.23 which confirms the diffuse ferroelectric transition. These ceramics at room temperature exhibited P–E hysteresis loops, though not well saturated akin to that of their single crystalline counterparts. These are the suitable properties for ferroelectric random access memory applications.