Nickel-doped (Zr0.8, Sn0.2)TiO4 for microwave and millimeter-wave applications

(Zr0.8, Sn0.2)TiO4 ternary compounds (ZST) have been prepared by conventional solid-state reaction from raw materials. The effects of such sintering parameters as sintering temperature, sintering time, and NiO addition on structural and dielectric properties were investigated. The material exhibits a dielectric constant ɛr ∼36.0 and high values of the product Qf of the intrinsic quality factor Q and the frequency f from 32,170 to 50,000 at microwave frequencies. The dielectric loss tan δ values of ZST ceramics are decreased by low-level doping of NiO, while the temperature coefficient of the resonance frequency τf takes values in the range −2 to +4 ppm/°C. Investigations on whispering gallery modes revealed low dielectric loss in millimetre-wave domain. An intrinsic quality factor of 480 was measured at 115.6 GHz. Dielectric resonators and substrates of ZST material were manufactured. The dielectric properties make the ZST material very attractive to microwave and millimeter-wave applications, such as dielectric resonators, filters, planar antennas, hybrid microwave integrated circuits, etc.