Low-temperature dielectric properties of SrTiO3 glass-ceramics

Abstract

The low-temperature dielectric properties of strontium titanate aluminosilicate glass-ceramics, in which perovskite SrTiO3 is the primary crystalline phase, have been investigated. These glass-ceramics exhibited dielectric constant peaks at temperatures below 100 K; the magnitude of these peaks, along with their frequency and temperature dependencies, were strongly dependent on the crystallization conditions. In heavily crystallized glass-ceramics, two low-temperature, relaxation-type loss mechanisms were identified, at temperature ranges near 50 and 100 K. The magnitude of the dielectric loss peak increased with increasing frequency for the lower temperature (50 K) mechanism and the magnitude of the loss peak decreased with increasing frequency for the higher temperature (100 K) mechanism. Arrhenius activation energies were calculated to be 0.054 and 0.17 eV for the lower and higher temperature loss mechanisms, respectively. The higher temperature loss mechanism was further analyzed by the Cole–Cole method, and a relaxation strength of 41 was calculated. It was proposed that the dielectric constant and loss peaks were related to ferroic phenomena occurring in the SrTiO3 phase, caused by interactions of the SrTiO3 with the glass-ceramic matrix.