Low temperature fired Ln2Zr3(MoO4)9 (Ln˭Sm, Nd) microwave dielectric ceramics

Abstract A series of new microwave dielectric ceramics Ln2Zr3(MoO4)9 (Ln˭Sm (SZM), Nd (NZM)) was successfully fabricated by a standard solid-state reaction method. The X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement results demonstrate that pure-phase SZM and NZM ceramics belong to the hexagonal system with a space group R 3 ¯ c. Scanning electron microscopy results reveal dense and homogeneous microstructures of these two ceramics as sintered at their respective optimum sintering temperature. Furthermore, the SZM and NZM ceramics sintered at 875 °C for 4 h and 850 °C for 4 h possess excellent microwave dielectric properties of dielectric permittivity er ~ 11.0, quality factor Qxf ~ 74,012 GHz (10.6 GHz), and temperature coefficient of resonance frequency τf ~ − 45.3 ppm/°C, and er ~ 10.8, Qxf ~ 58,942 GHz (10.5 GHz), and τf ~ − 40.9 ppm/°C, respectively. These experimental results show great potentials for applications of low temperature co-fired ceramic technology.