Low temperature sintering of CCTO using P2O5 as a sintering aid

Recent work on CCTO is directed towards decreasing its dissipation factor and further raising its dielectric constant by using different dopants. Also attempts have been made to lower its sintering temperature by adding different sintering aids so as to save energy and use low-cost electrodes (Ag-Pd or base metal) for making multilayer capacitors. Normally, CCTO needs a processing temperature of 1100 degrees C and above for densification. We report the formation of dense CCTO ceramics at a temperature as low as 1000 degrees C by adding P2O5 as a sintering aid. The samples showed dielectric constant value as high as 40,000, though the dissipation factor values remained high like those reported for pure CCTO. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.