Preparation and microwave dielectric properties of multilayer Li1.075Nb0.625Ti0.45O3 co-fired ceramics with aqueous tape casting

Multilayer Li1.075Nb0.625Ti0.45O3 (LNT) ceramics for low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) application were prepared by aqueous tape casting. The rheological test indicated that the aqueous slurries exhibited a typical shear-thinning behavior without thixotropy suitable for tape casting process. The green tapes with 2 wt% V2O5 addition have satisfactory mechanical properties. Scanning electron microscopy studies revealed that the green tapes have a smooth defect-free surface and that the sintered LNT ceramics have a fine grain microstructure with a uniform grain size. Therefore, aqueous tape casting is suitable for the manufacture of high performance multilayer LNT ceramics. Silver inner-electrode was sintered with LNT tapes at 900 A degrees C, and no reaction been observed between LNT ceramic and sliver layers. The addition of V2O5 does not induce much degradation on the microwave dielectric properties. In the case of 2 wt% V2O5 addition, the ceramics show good microwave dielectric properties of epsilon (r) = 65, Q x f = 6,350 GHz. It represents that LNT ceramics could be promising for multilayer LTCC application.