Effects of Glass Phase Additions and Stoichiometry on the Ba(Zn1/3X2/3)O3 (X = Ta or Nb) Sinterability and Dielectric Properties

Ba(Zn_1/3X_2/3)O₃ materials where X = Ta or Nb (respectively named BZT and BZN) exhibit attractive properties suitable for applications in type I Multi Layer Ceramics Capacitors (MLCC). Nevertheless, to produce such components using Base Metal Electrodes such as copper, a significant reduction of their sintering temperature is required. The aim of this work is first to study the effects of glass phases additions and secondly the stoichiometry influence on the sintering temperature of BZT and BZN. It is shown for example, that our materials can be sintered in air at a temperature lowered by 450C when sintering agents (B₂O₃ with LiF) are combined with a slight non-stoichiometry. The sintered samples are characterised in terms of final density, microstructure and phase content and it was underlined that such modifications (additions and stoichiometry) does not affect the dielectric properties.