Influence of ZnO evaporation on the microwave dielectric properties of La(Zn1/2Ti1/2)O-3

Microwave dielectric properties of the complex perovskite compound La(Zn1/2Ti1/2)O-3 (LZT) and the effect of ZnO evaporation on the quality factor were examined. The results show that ZnO evaporation was related with the increase in quality factor. The comparison between weight loss and XRD data shows that defects were induced in the samples sintered in air. To investigate the correlation between quality factor and ZnO evaporation, samples sintered in both air and a ZnO atmosphere were examined. The characterization techniques used for this investigation were XRD and TEM. Samples sintered in a ZnO atmosphere have lower quality factor than those sintered in air. The results were compared to the previously reported case of Ba(Zn1/3Ta2/3)O-3. The variation of quality factor of LZT samples sintered in a ZnO atmosphere was not related to the degree of cation ordering, lattice distortion and second phase. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.