Ferroelectric ceramics based on the BaO–SrO–TiO2 ternary system for microwave applications

Ba1−xSrxTiO3 solid solutions with x = 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 0.9 were prepared by solid-state reaction from powder oxides with high purity. In order to improve the granular growth 1 wt.% MgO and 1 wt.% MnO2 was added to the calcined powders. Samples were sintered for 2 h at 1230 and 1260 °C. Structural parameters, grain sizes, bulk densities and microwave dielectric parameters were determined. A monotonic decrease of the Curie temperature with the increase of strontium content was determined by low-frequency dielectric measurements. Microwave measurements around 1 GHz showed substantial decrease of the permittivity with the x increase from about 1080 to 200. Also, the variation of losses from 1% to less than 0.2% was observed. The results indicate the BST ceramic as dielectric material, which can be utilized in paraelectric state for microwave devices.