The design and fabrication of LTCC chip inductors for high frequency applications based on barium ferrites

With the current explosive growth of communication technologies and a wide variety of applications being found for broadband and high frequency of electronic components, LTCC (Low Temperature Cofired Ceramics and Ferrites) with materials that possess special characteristics have been rapidly developed, due to its greater multifunctionality, higher performances, sub-miniaturization and excellent reliability. As one of the most important passive components, the chip inductor with high inductances used in high frequency has attracted significant interests in 3-D miniaturized systems. This paper focuses on the design and fabrication of a chip inductor based on the ZnTi-substituted hexaferrite BaFe₁₂O₁₉ by LTCC technology to realize the 0805 size of standard packaging for high frequency applications. Testing results show that the value of inductor is 2.45uH and cut-off frequency is 548MHz. And the measured results agree with the simulated data basically, which indicates that the samples can satisfy the need of high frequency inductors. The influences of each factor on the performances of inductor are also analyzed. It is an effective method to resolve the consistency problems between simulation and manufacture.