Compositional modulation in ZnGa2O4 via Zn2+/Ge4+ co-doping to simultaneously lower sintering temperature and improve microwave dielectric properties

Ying XIONG; Hongyuan XIE; Zhenggang RAO; Laijun LIU; Zhengfeng WANG; Chunchun LI

doi:10.1007/s40145-021-0511-0

Journal of Advanced Ceramics 2021, 10(6): 1360-1370 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40145-021-0511-0

Research Article |

Open Access | Issue | Published: 30 September 2021

Compositional modulation in ZnGa₂O₄ via Zn²⁺/Ge⁴⁺ co-doping to simultaneously lower sintering temperature and improve microwave dielectric properties

Show Author's Information Hide Author's Information Ying XIONG^{^a^,^b^,^†}, Hongyuan XIE^{^c^,^†}, Zhenggang RAO^{^c}, Laijun LIU^{^b}, Zhengfeng WANG^{^a}, Chunchun LI^{^a^,^b^,^c}(

)

aCollege of Information Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China

bGuangxi Key Laboratory of Optical and Electronic Materials and Devices, College of Material Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China

cSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China

† Ying Xiong and Hongyuan Xie contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:

ceramics, dielectric properties, composition modulation, spinel

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XIONG Y, XIE H, RAO Z, et al. Compositional modulation in ZnGa₂O₄ via Zn²⁺/Ge⁴⁺ co-doping to simultaneously lower sintering temperature and improve microwave dielectric properties. Journal of Advanced Ceramics, 2021, 10(6): 1360-1370. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40145-021-0511-0

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Abstract

AB₂O₄-type spinels with low relative permittivity (ε_r) and high quality factor (Q × f) are crucial to high-speed signal propagation systems. In this work, Zn²⁺/Ge⁴⁺ co-doping to substitute Ga³⁺ in ZnGa₂O₄ was designed to lower the sintering temperature and adjust the thermal stability of resonance frequency simultaneously. Zn_1+xGa_2-2xGe_xO₄ (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) ceramics were synthesised by the conventional solid-state method. Zn²⁺/Ge⁴⁺ co-substitution induced minimal variation in the macroscopical spinel structure, which effectively lowered the sintering temperature from 1385 to 1250 ℃. All compositions crystallized in a normal spinel structure and exhibited dense microstructures and excellent microwave dielectric properties. The compositional dependent quality factor was related to the microstructural variation, being confirmed by Raman features. A composition with x = 0.3 shows the best dielectric properties with ε_r ≈ 10.09, Q × f ≈ 112,700 THz, and τ_f ≈ -75.6 ppm/℃. The negative τ_f value was further adjusted to be near-zero through the formation of composite ceramics with TiO₂.

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Compositional modulation in ZnGa₂O₄ via Zn²⁺/Ge⁴⁺ co-doping to simultaneously lower sintering temperature and improve microwave dielectric properties

Show Author's information Hide Author's Information Ying XIONG^{^a^,^b^,^†}, Hongyuan XIE^{^c^,^†}, Zhenggang RAO^{^c}, Laijun LIU^{^b}, Zhengfeng WANG^{^a}, Chunchun LI^{^a^,^b^,^c}(

)

aCollege of Information Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China

bGuangxi Key Laboratory of Optical and Electronic Materials and Devices, College of Material Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China

cSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China

† Ying Xiong and Hongyuan Xie contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Keywords: ceramics, dielectric properties, composition modulation, spinel

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Publication history

Received: 01 March 2021

Revised: 27 May 2021

Accepted: 26 June 2021

Published: 30 September 2021

Issue date: December 2021

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Acknowledgements

Chunchun Li gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 62061011), the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Nos. 2018GXNSFAA281253 and 2019GXNSFGA245006), and the High-Level Innovation Team and Outstanding Scholar Program of Guangxi Institutes. The authors would also like to thank the administrators in the IR beamline workstation of the National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) for their help in the IR measurement.

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