Low Loss Sintered Dielectric Resonators with HTS Thick Films

The combination of high-Qdielectric resonators and high-temperature superconducting (HTS) films offer many advantages in the area of cellular and satellite communications. The high cost of single crystal dielectrics and HTS thin films may be unattractive in certain applications. Superconducting thick films and polycrystalline ceramic dielectrics offer a high performance, low-cost alternative to high-Qthin film/single crystal dielectric resonators. The loss of polycrystalline ceramics of A1₂O₃, Ba(Mg_1/3Ta_2/3)O₃ (BMT), and Zr_0.875 Sn_0.25Ti0.875O₄ (ZTS) has been studied. Alumina, A1_2Oin3, has been studied as a model material for dielectric loss. Theory predicts that the loss in single crystal sapphire should follow aT ₅ dependence. However, at low temperatures the loss is dominated by extrinsic losses due to crystal imperfection, residual dopant atoms, dislocations, and other lattice defects and theT ₅ dependence does not hold. In polycrystalline alumina the intrinsic loss is immediately masked by these extrinsic losses, even at room temperature, and a simpleT dependence is observed. Results on polycrystalline alumina show that Q’s well in excess of 105 at 10 GHz and 77 K can be achieved in a design made compact by the use of a HTS thick film shield.