Investigation of aging effects from high voltage profiles in ceramic phase shifter materials

Ceramic composite materials comprised of Ba/sub 0.60/Sr/sub 0.40/TiO/sub 3/ and Alumina and other non-ferroelectric oxides have been fabricated for use in phased array antennas. These composites have shown superior electronic properties and have been incorporated into several antenna designs. However, minimal testing has been accomplished to determine the electrical aging and fatigue caused by the large electric fields required to operate these devices. In this paper, a systematic study of the effect of the application of large fields will be presented. The electronic properties of the BSTO-Oxide composites (pre-voltage application) will be presented and include the dielectric constant, loss tangent, and tunability (change in dielectric constant with applied field). The study of the change in the electronic properties after large voltages applications includes results on the electronic aging and fatigue of the material and appropriate conditioning of the material for application in phased array antenna systems.