Structural, Electrical and Piezoelectric Properties of Ba1-xNdxTiO3 Ceramic for Microelectronic Applications

Abstract

Neodymium (Nd)-doped barium titanate (BaTiO3) ceramics with general formula Ba1-xNdxTiO3 (0 ≤ x ≤0.13) were synthesized by the conventional solid-state reaction method at 1400 ᵒC for 36 hours in air. A single-phase structure of Nd-doped BaTiO3 was observed from 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.10. The tetragonal distortion of undoped BaTiO3 progressively decreased with increasing Nd content (x). The samples retain a tetragonal structure for x ≤ 0.015, transformed to a cubic phase for 0.03≤ x ≤ 0.1 and showed to coalesce at x = 0.13. The undoped BaTiO3 exhibited a maximum permittivity approximately  = 8500 at the Curie temperature (Tc), while a slightly reduced value of about  = 8200 for Nd at x = 0.005. Nd substitution resulted in a shift of the permittivity maximum towards lower Tc within the tetragonal region, whereas compositions in the cubic displayed a nearly linear temperature dependence without a distinct maximum. The composition with x = 0.005 showed the highest piezoelectric charge coefficient, d33 = 49 pC/N and piezoelectric voltage coefficient of g33 = 0.2 x 10-2 V.m/N.