Synthesis and characterization of zinc titanate doped with magnesium

Zinc titanate crystals doped with magnesium have been grown by conventional solid state reaction technique using metal oxides. It is shown that they are semiconductors. The characteristics of zinc titanate samples were found to depend on the heating conditions and the amounts of additions. Our studies revealed that magnesium can replace the zinc ion and forms a solid solution in the ZnTiO3 phase. The electrical resistivity of (Zn,Mg)TiO3 varied with sintering temperature, and has a minimum when sintered at 900 degreesC. Increasing amounts of magnesium will also decrease the resistivity. A V-shaped temperature dependence of resistivity was observed. Furthermore, the dielectric constant increased with sintering temperature and decreased with increasing amounts of magnesium. It also shows a maximum Q factor at a frequency of 8 GHz for the sample of (Zn-0.9, Mg-0.1)TiO3 sintered at 900 degreesC. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.