Low-Temperature Sintering Barium Titanate-Based X8R Ceramics with Nd2O3 Dopant and ZnO-B2O3 Flux Agent

To demonstrate that barium titanate-based ceramics could be sintered at a low temperature thus reducing the cost of capacitor production, systematic investigation has been made on the structure and dielectric properties of barium titanate-based X8R ceramics, doped with various Nd2O3 content and different ZnO-B2O3 solution as the sintering aids. The dielectric ceramic powder with good permittivity and low dielectric loss were obtained at a sintering temperature of 900 degrees C, meeting X8R specifications. Transmission electron microscopy and EDS analysis shows a high concentration of Nd element in the boundary regions, which verifies the beneficial role of Nd in facilitating the formation of core-shell structure. The results also suggest that the developed BaTiO3-based ceramics may serve as a promising candidate for fabricating cheap multilayer capacitors with pure Ag as inner electrode.