Phase Characterization and Dielectric Properties of Zn₂SiO₄Ceramics Derived from a Sol-Gel Process

Abstract

Abstract The Zn 2 SiO 4 based ceramics with the compositions of Zn 2 SiO 4 , Zn 1.8 SiO 3.8 , Zn 2.2 SiO 4.2 , and Zn 2 SiO 4 -11wt%TiO 2 were prepared by a sol-gel process. The formation process of the crystal phases in the precursor powders was characterized by XRD techniques. The results showed that the willemite phase was formed from the reaction between ZnO and SiO 2 , and the presence of TiO 2 precursor could reduce the temperature of phase formation. The excellent microwave properties of ϵ r ∼ 6.55, Q× f ∼ 198,400 GHz, τ f ∼ -41.6ppm/°C and ϵ r ∼ 9.13, Q× f∼ 150,800GHz, τ f ∼ 1.0ppm/°C were achieved for the pure and TiO 2 -doped Zn 2 SiO 4 ceramics, respectively. The phase characterization revealed that the pure phases formed from sol-gel process might be responsible for the excellent properties. Keywords: Microwave dielectric ceramicssol-gel processZn2SiO4 willemite Acknowledgments This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50672043 and 50621201), and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China through 973-Project under 2009CB623306.