Low temperature sintering and microwave dielectric properties of Zn1.8SiO3.8 ceramics with BaCu(B2O5) additive for LTCC applications

The Zn1.8SiO3.8 (ZS) ceramics with BaCu(B2O5) (BCB) additive were synthesized by the conventional solid-state reaction route and the effect of BCB additive on the microwave dielectric properties of the ceramics was investigated. The results demonstrate that BCB could effectively decrease the sintering temperature from 1300 °C to 930 °C and does not induce obviously degradation of the microwave dielectric properties. The 6.wt% BCB added ZS ceramics exhibited a low sintering temperature (~ 930 °C) and excellent dielectric properties of εr = 6.79, Q×f = 33,648 GHz, and τf = −30 ppm/°C. To compensate the negative τf value of this system, TiO2 powders were introduced. Particularly when 10.wt% TiO2 was added, good microwave dielectric properties of εr= 8.175, Q×f= 21,252 GHz, and τf = 1.2 ppm/°C were obtained for the 6.wt% BCB added ZS ceramic sintered at 930 °C for 3 h. Moreover, BCB added ZS-TiO2 ceramics have a chemical compatibility with silver, which indicate that the BCB added ZS ceramics are promising candidate for LTCC applications.