Electrical conductivity and capacitance spectra of Bi1.37Sm0.13Zn0.92Nb1.50O6.92 pyrochlore ceramic in the range of 0–3 GHz

Abstract

In this work, the electrical properties of samarium-doped bismuth niobium zinc oxide ( Sm -doped BZN ) pyrochlore ceramics are investigated by means of temperature dependent electrical conductivity and capacitance spectroscopy in the frequency range of 0–3 GHz. It was observed that the novel dielectric Sm - BZN ceramic exhibits a temperature and electric field dependent dielectric breakdown. When measured at 300 K, the breakdown electric field is 1.12 kV/cm and when heated the breakdown temperature is ~ 420 K. The pyrochlore is thermally active above 440 K with conductivity activation energy of 1.37 eV. In addition, the room temperature capacitance spectra reflected a resonance–antiresonance switching property at 53 MHz when subjected to an AC signal of low power of 5 dBm. Furthermore, when the Sm - BZN ceramics are used as microwave cavity and tested in the frequency range of 1.0–3.0 GHz, the cavity behaves as low pass filter with wide tunability up to a frequency of 1.91 GHz. At this frequency it behaves as a band rejection filter that blocks waves of 1.91 GHz and 2.57 GHz frequencies. These properties of the Sm -doped BZN are promising as they indicate the usability of the ceramics in digital electronic circuits as resonant microwave cavities suitable for the production of low pass/rejection band filters.