Effect of La/Sn co-substitution for Ba/Ta on crystal structure and dielectric properties of Ba5NdTi3Ta7O30 ceramics

The effects of La/Sn co-substitution for Ba/Ta were investigated for the modification of Ba₅NdTi₃Ta₇O₃₀ ceramics. The modified ceramics (Ba_5?x La _x )NdTi₃(Ta_7?x Sn _x )O₃₀ exhibited single tetragonal tungsten bronze phase for x<1.5, while a small amount of secondary phase BaTi₄O₉ was observed for x>1.5. The lattice constants decreased with increasing La/Sn content, while the axial ratio 10^1/2c/a decreased when x was below 1.5, then slightly increased. With increasing La and Sn content, the temperature coefficient of dielectric constant (at 1 MHz) was remarkably lowered from ?1560 ppm/ °C to ?286 ppm/ °C, while the dielectric constant gradually reduced, and the dielectric loss slightly increased. There were some clear relationships between the temperature coefficient and bond valence, tolerance factor: the temperature coefficient of dielectric constant linearly increased when the bond valence of the ions at B sites increased, while the same effect occurred when the tolerance factor decreased. In addition, the stability of the tetragonal tungsten bronze phase is discussed in relation to electronic difference and tolerance factor.