Effect of Nb2O5/ZnO Addition on Microwave Properties of (Zr0.8Sn0.2)TiO4 Ceramics

The effects of Nb2O5 and ZnO addition on the dielectric properties, especially the quality factor, of (Zr0.8Sn0.2)TiO4 (ZST) ceramics were investigated in terms of the sintered density acquired by the zinc. For ZST ceramics with 2 mol% added ZnO, the relative density of the samples decreased with >0.5 mol% addition of Nb2O5. On the other hand, for samples with 6 mol% added ZnO, the relative density remained >97%, even when the amount of Nb2O5 was increased to 2.0 mol%. When >0.5 mol% Nb2O5 was added, both the quality factor and the dielectric constant exhibited similar trends with sintered density. The ZST ceramics with 6 mol% added ZnO, especially, still manifested a quality factor >40 000 and a dielectric constant of 37, even when the amount of Nb2O5 was increased, values that are not explainable by the previously suggested electronic defect model.