Soft magnetic, gyromagnetic, and microstructural properties of BBSZ-Nb2O5 doped NiCuZn ferrites for LTCC applications

Abstract

The development of 5G technology places higher performance requirements on low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) materials. Here, a solid phase method was used to prepare BBSZ-Nb2O5 doped Ni0.22Cu0.31Zn0.47Fe2O4 samples, and the effects of doping 0.3 wt% BBSZ and different contents of Nb2O5 (x = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9 and 1.1 wt%) on the microstructure as well as the soft magnetic and gyromagnetic properties of the resulting samples were studied. The doping with Nb2O5 promoted crystal lattice expansion and densification under low temperature sintering conditions. The sample containing an Nb2O5 content of x = 0.9 had the highest measured μ′ value of 212.6, which had increased by 15.9% relative to x = 0.1. Moreover, the measured Ms was the maximum value of 32.61 emu/g and ΔH reached the minimum value of 280 Oe for the x = 0.9 sample, which were 25.5% higher and 32.0% lower than those measured for the x = 0.1 sample, respectively. At x = 1.1, ε′ had the minimum value of 21.4, which was 21.6% lower, and Hc reached the maximum value of 30.8 Oe, which increased by 7.6%. This reduction in ΔH for the doped NiCuZn samples makes them promising materials for use in microwave gyromagnetic devices or as antenna substrates based on LTCC integration technology.