Low loss and low temperature sintering of Li3Mg2NbO6 ceramics for LTCC applications

Abstract

We fabricated the low loss Li3Mg2NbO6-xV2O5 (x = 0.25–1.25 wt%)ceramics by the solid-state reaction procedure and discussed the impacts of V2O5 addition on the phase structure, sintering characteristics, microstructure, grain growth, grain size and microwave dielectric characterizations of Li3Mg2NbO6-xV2O5 ceramics. Single-phase Li3Mg2NbO6 orthorhombic structure was obtained for all compositions and substitution of V5+ ions for Nb5+ ions occurred. Homogeneous and dense microstructures with grain size of ∼11.2 μm could be observed when sintered at 925 °C, indicating that suitable V2O5 addition content promoted the grain growth. The relative permittivity was associated with the relative density and the Q × f value was correlated to the grain size and relative density. The τf value was relevant to the porosity corrected relative permittivity. Remarkable microwave dielectric properties: εr = 15.1, Q × f = 91,000 GHz (9.76 GHz) and τf = −24 ppm °C−1 were acquired for the samples with x = 1 wt%, indicating a potential for LTCC applications.