Synthesis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis>-Axis Barium Hexaferrite Puck for Communication Application

Recent progress and needs by telecommunication industries require thick barium ferrite film with excellent magnetic properties for microwave monolithic integrated circuit applications. In the present work we show a novel barium hexaferrite (BaFe₁₂O₁₉, or BaM) composite material, BaFe₁₂O₁₉ nanopowder mixture with epoxy, as a low-cost solution to fabricate thick BaM films. The mix is used to fabricate thick puck of BaM within an alumina substrate. The resulting barium hexaferrite thick pucks have good magnetic properties with a magnetization saturation 4πMs between 2000 and 2500 Gauss, a perpendicular coercivity of 3800 to 4000 Oe and a close to 0.9 squareness. In addition, we have successfully fabricated and tested a self-biased microwave circulator by depositing and patterning copper contact lines on the alumina substrate and the BaM thick puck.