Study of copper substitutions in Ag(NbxTa1−x)O3 solid solutions

This study deals with the effect of copper in AgNb1−xTaxO3 solid solutions (ANT). Firstly, CuO was added after calcination and used as a sintering aid. Secondly, copper oxide was introduced as a raw material by substituting a part of Ag2O, Nb2O5 or Ta2O5. Compositions were made using conventional ceramics route. The powder processing and the firing conditions were optimized. l formulations, silver precipitates were observed inside the ceramics. The lowest dielectric losses were obtained for Ag2O deficiency samples sintered at 915 °C in oxygen atmosphere. With a permittivity of 415 and a Q × f = 610 GHz, these compositions exhibited better dielectric properties than CuO added samples. These characteristics are very promising for filtering applications in the radio-frequency range.