Dielectric Loss

• Dielectric materials: high electrical resistivities,

but an efficient supporter of electrostatic fields.
• Can store energy/charge.
• Able to support an electrostatic field while
dissipating minimal energy in the form of heat.
• The lower the dielectric loss (proportion of
energy lost as heat), the more effective is a
dielectric material.
• Another consideration is the dielectric constant,
the extent to which a substance concentrates
the electrostatic lines of flux.
 Dielectric Constant
• The capacitance, C, of a capacitor formed by two parallel
plates of area A spaced d apart with the area between the
plates filled with dielectric material with a relative
dielectric constant of ε is:
 Dielectric Loss
• For a lossy (imperfect) dielectric the dielectric
constant can be represented by a complex
relative dielectric constant:

• The imaginary part of this complex dielectric

constant, ε at a frequency, ω is equivalent to a
frequency-dependent conductivity, σ(ω), given
by:
 Dielectric Loss
• ε" is also known as the loss factor.
• The small difference in phase from ideal behaviour is
defined by an angle δ, defined through the equation

• tan δ is known as the loss tangent or dissipation factor.

• A quality factor, Q, for the dielectric is given by the
reciprocal of tan δ.
Dielectric Loss

Equivalent circuit diagrams: (a) capacitive cell, (b)

charging and loss current, (c) loss tangent for a typical
dielectric
 Dielectric Loss
• From Q = ε εoAV/d = CV

• If V being sinusoidal, total charge Q may be written as

Q = C Vo eiωt
• Current flow on discharge of the capacitive cell in time, t:
dQ
I= = iωCV
dt
• For a real dielectric the current I has vector components IC and IR:
I = IC + IR
 Dielectric Loss
• From magnitude of these currents, also we can define a
dissipation factor, tan δ, as

IR
tan δ =
IC
• Quality factor Q is:

1 average energy stored

Q= =
tan δ energy dissipated per cycle
 Dielectric Strength
• Dielectric materials are insulators (conduction cannot
generally occur).
• However, under certain conditions, dielectric materials
can break down and conduct a significant current.
• Generally, the lattice of a dielectric has sufficient strength
to absorb the energy from impacting electrons that are
accelerated by the applied electric field.
• However, under a sufficiently large electric field, some
electrons present in the dielectric will have sufficient
kinetic energy to ionize the lattice atoms causing an
avalanching effect.
• As a result, the dielectric will begin to conduct a
significant amount of current.
 Dielectric Strength
• This phenomenon is called dielectric breakdown and the
corresponding field intensity is referred to as the dielectric
breakdown strength.
• Dielectric strength may be defined as the maximum potential
gradient to which a material can be subjected without
insulating breakdown, that is

 dV  VB
DS =   =
 dx  max d

where DS is the dielectric strength in kV/mm,

VB the breakdown voltage, and d the thickness.
Current-voltage characteristic up to breakdown for a
typical dielectric materials
 Dielectric Strength
• Dielectric strength depends on
material homogeneity,
specimen geometry,
electrode shape and disposition,
stress mode (ac, dc or pulsed) and
ambient condition.
Properties of ceramics with low permittivity and low losses

Typical properties of dielectric ceramics

Material Applications
Steatite Porcelain insulators
Cordierite Applications requiring good thermal shock resistance. Supports for high-power
wire-wound resistors.
Alumina Best compromise of dielectric losses, high mechanical strength, high thermal
conductivity. Reliable metal-ceramic joining technoloy (MolyMn) available.
Beryllia Good properties, very high thermal conductivity, expensive and difficult
processing. Insulating parts in high-power electromagnetic energy generation
(klynstrons and magnetotrons).
AlN High thermal conductivity and TEC close to that of silicon. Substrate for power
electronic circuits and chips.
Glass & glass-ceramics Cheap material and easy processing. Low thermal conductivity
Properties of ceramics with low permittivity and low losses

Typical properties of alumina ceramics

Tanδ of 99.9% alumina ceramics

Spark plugs

Insulating parts in high-power

Microstructure of alumina ceramics electromagnetic generation. Windows for
high-power microwave generators.
Substrates for electronic circuits. Cheap
packaging.

99.9% Al2O3 96% Al2O3

Dielectric Strength
Multilayer ceramic capacitors
 Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor

• The demands for miniaturization largely preclude

an increase in the face area A.
• One exception is the multilayer ceramic capacitor
(MLCC), in which case:

A(N −1)
C = ε rε o
d
• where N is the number of stacked plates.
• Ideally, the dielectric should have a low electrical
conductivity so that the leakage current is not too
large.
Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor

Cut-away view of multilayer

ceramic capacitor.
 Surface-Mount Ceramic Capacitors

Military electronics
 Surface--Mount Capacitors
Surface

• Ceramic surface-mount capacitors are used in

every type of electronic equipment including
computers, telecommunication, automotive
electronics, military electronics, medical
electronics and consumer electronics.
• High voltage and high temperature ceramic
capacitors are serve military, aerospace, oil
service, oil exploration and other markets
including medical imaging, power generation,
and high voltage power supply.
Multilayer ceramic capacitors
Ceramic
MLCC: n ceramic layers of thickness d
separated by metal (Ni, Ag-Pd) electrodes.
Capacitance per unit volume:
n
CV = εKr 2
d
Current market trends:
•increase capacitance
(increase n and decrease d)
•miniaturization (reduce d and size)
d n
Multilayer ceramic capacitors

Some data

Main dielectric material: BaTiO3. Yearly production: 11000 tons

2x1012 MLCCs (2011);
Dielectric properties are modified by adding dopants (Zr, Ca, Mg,
Nb, Y, Ho, Dy, etc.);
State of the art capacitors: dielectric layer thickness of 0.5 micron
(Murata, Japan);
Production technology: tape casting;
Metal electrodes:
- Noble metals: Ag-Pd, sintering in air with addition of glass to
reduce temperature to 1100°C (Ag-30Pd);
- Ni (base metal technology, Philips, 1990s): sintering in N2-H2
atmosphere. Addition of “magic” dopants (Y, Dy, Ho) to reduce d=0.5 µm
formation of oxygen vacancies and improve lifetime.
Applications: consumer electronics (mobile phones, smart phones,
PCs, laptops, TVs, etc.), automotive (cars, hybrid cars, electric vehicles).
State-of-the-art MLCC:
d = 0.5 μm gs ≈100 nm
Multilayer ceramic capacitors
MLCCs fabrication process (multilayer cofire technology)
Multilayer ceramic capacitors

Ceramic

d = 10 µm

Metal electrode

Dielectric ceramic layer

at least 5-7 grains

Metal electrode
Multilayer ceramic capacitors
Miniaturization

d=0.5 µm

State-of-the-art MLCC:
d = 0.5 μm gs ≈100 nm
Multilayer ceramic capacitors

Applications in power electronics

Bus capacitors act as an energy source to stabilize the dc bus voltage in power electronic
circuits such as dc/ac inverters in hybrid electric systems. They possess large capacitance
(100–2000 μF), and operate under a stable dc bias with a superimposed ac transient voltage.

Functions of inverter:
Power the traction motors using energy stored in batteries
Regenerative breaking (inverter takes power from motor and store it in batteries)
Requirements for dielectric materials:
o High and constant permittivity under high dc fields
o Low hysteretic losses (especially at high fields)
o High energy density
 Temperature Sensitive Resistor

• There are numerous

uses for resistors
with high value of
the temperature
coefficient of
resistance (TCR)
and they may be
negative (NTC) or
positive (PTC).
 Temperature Sensitive Resistor

• Some ceramic
resistors exhibit high
value of the
temperature
coefficient of
resistance (TCR) and
they may be
negative (NTC) or
positive (PTC).
 Temperature Sensitive Resistor

• In a ceramic a large temperature coefficient of resistivity

can arise from 3 causes:
The intrinsic characteristic.
A structure transition which accomponied by a change in the
conduction mechanism from semiconducting to metallic.
A rapid change in dielectric properties in certain ceramics which
affects the electronic properties in the intergranular region to
give rise to a large increase in resistivity with temperature over
small temperature range.
• The 3rd Mechanism has led to important TCR devices.
Typical resistance-temperature response for various
sensor materials
 NTC Thermistor

• The TCR of a semiconductor is expected to be negative.

• In each case the resistivity depends on temperature
according to
B
ρ (T ) = ρ ∞ exp 
T 
• where ρ∞ is approximately independent of T and B is a
constant related to the energy required to active the
electron to conduct.
• Differentiating this equation leads to TCR value αR:

1 dρ B
αR = =− 2
ρ dT T
 NTC Thermistor

• The most NTC materials are based on solid solutions

of oxides with spinel structure, e.g. Fe3O4-ZnCr2O4
and Fe3O4-MgCr2O4.
• A series that gives favourable combinations of low
resistivity and high coefficients is based on Mn3O4
with a partial replacement of Mn by Ni, Co and Cu.
 PTC Thermistor

• PTC thermistors exhibit an increase in

resistance at a specified temperature.
• PTC resistor could be classified as critical
temperature resistors because, in the case of
the most widely used type,
• The positive coefficient is associated with the
ferroelectric Curie point.
 PTC Thermistor

• Most PTC has the negative resistivity-temperature

characteristic up to about 100 oC and above about 200 oC.
• While between these temperatures there is an increase of
several orders of magnitude in resistivity.
• The PTC effect is exhibited by specially doped and processed
(eg. BaTiO3).
 Application of PTC Thermistor
• The are two main groups:
– Applications such as temperature measurement,
temperature control, temperature compensation
and over-temperature protection.
– The second group includes applications such as
over-current protection, liquid level detection
and time delay.
A surge protector (or surge suppressor) is an appliance designed to protect electrical
devices from voltage spikes. A surge protector attempts to limit the voltage supplied to an
electric device by either blocking or by shorting to ground any unwanted voltages above a
safe threshold.
 Voltage-dependent Resistors (Varistors)

• There are a number of situations in which it is valuable to have a resistor

which offers a high resistance at low voltages and a low resistance at high
voltages.
• Such a devices can be used to protect a circuit from high-voltage
transients by providing a path across the power suply that
– takes only a small current under normal conditions but takes large
current if the voltage rises abnormally,
– thus preventing high-voltage pulses from reaching the circuit.
• Schematic use of a VDR to protect a circuit against transients,

Circuit to be
Source VDR protected
 Schematic representation of
varistor-capacitor device
construction and its equivalent
circuit.
 Varistors-VDR
• Ceramics based on SiC and ZnO are two materials in everyday use
for VDR.
• The VDR behaviour in ZnO varistors for example is governed by
electron states that are formed on the surfaces of crystals as a
consequence of the discontinuity.
• These surface states act as acceptors for electrons from the n-
type semiconductor.
• Electrons will be withdrawn from region near the surface and
replaced by a positive space charge.
• Oppositely oriented Schottky barrier will be created at surface of
neihbouring crystals so that a high resistance will be offered to
electron flow in either direction.
JACerS, 73 (7), 1990, 1817–1840
Illustrations of actual microstructure of a varistor
 High-K Dielectric Materials
• The discovery of materials with unusually high-dielectric constants
(εr > 2000-100000), and their ferroelectric nature, led to an
explosion in ceramic use.
• The first employed in high-k capacitors is BaTiO3 based, and later
developed into
– piezoelectric transducers,
– positive temperature coefficient (PTC) devices, and
– electro-optic light valves.
• Recent developments in the field of ferroelectric ceramics is their
use in
– medical ultrasonic composites,
– high displacement piezoelectric actuators, and
– photoresistors.
 High-K Dielectric

• The bit count of MOS DRAM devices is continuously

increasing. However, as bit count goes up, capacitor
cell area goes down.
• The capacitance per cell must remain in the 25-30 fF
range, which means the capacitance density must
increase.
• One approach for DRAM manufacturing is to replace
the traditional silicon nitride + silicon oxide with a
higher dielectric constant (k) such as tantalum
pentoxide (Ta2O5), Hf-oxide (HfO2) and Zr-oxide
(ZrO2).
The roadmap of capacitor with DRAM technology.

D.-S. Yoon et al. / Progress in Materials Science 48 (2003) 275–371

 High-K Dielectric
• High-k dielectric films are anticipated to be required
for certain applications with low power and leakage
current specifications.
• High-k materials should be compatible with
conventional industry standard MOSFET process
flows using a poly-Si gate electrode.
• HfO2, ZrO2, and Ta2O5 as high-k gate-dielectrics.
Typical material stack used in aTa2O5 DRAM
capacitor
 A Review of High High-
High-k Dielectrics
• Gate dielectric materials having high dielectric
constant, large band gap with a favorable band
alignment, low interface state density and good
thermal stability are needed for future gate dielectric
applications.
• Ultra high-k materials such as STO (SrTiO3) or BST
(BaSrTiO3) may cause fringing field induced barrier
lowering effect.
 A Review of High High-
High-k Dielectrics
• High-k gate dielectrics have a number of difficulties:
(1) crystallization upon heating,
(2) dopant penetration,
(3) fixed charge,
(4) low channel mobility and
(5) uncontrolled oxide formation at the Si/high-k
interface.
High-K and PolySi are Incompatible
Ferroelectric ceramics
Important events in the history of ferroelectrics
1824 Pyroelectricity in Rochelle salt NaKC4H4O6*4H2O (Brewster)
1880 Piezoelectricity in quartz and Rochelle salt (Jacques & Pierre Curie – quartz balance)
1912 Ferroelectricity proposed as a property of solids
1921 Ferroelectricity in Rochelle salt (Valasek)
1935 Ferroelectricity in KH2PO4
1941 High dielectric constant in BaTiO3
1944 Ferroelectricity in BaTiO3 (von Hippel, Wul & Goldman)
1945 BaTiO3 ceramics for piezoelectric transducers (electrical poling)
1949 Theory of ferroelectricity in BaTiO3 (Devonshire)
1949 Ferroelectricity in LiNbO3 and LiTaO3
1952 Phase diagram of Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 – PZT established

1954 PZT reported as a useful piezo transducer

1955 Ferroelectricity in alkali niobates
1961 PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3-PMN reported as ferroelectric relaxor
1969 Optical transparency achieved in hot pressed PLZT
1971 Useful electrooptical properties reported for PLZT
1980 Electrostrictive PMN devices developed
1992 New types of PZT piezo actuators developed
1993 Integration of FE films on silicon technology - FERAMs
1997 Ultrahigh piezoelectric coefficients in PMN-PT and PZN-PT
2002 High polarization and magnetoelectric coupling in BiFeO3 films
2004 High-performance lead free KNN piezoceramics (KxNa1-xNbO3)
 Ferro & Piezoelectrics: Key Points
• Ferroelectrics: materials with
non-centrosymmetry, having
(electrically) re-orientateable
spontaneous polarisation at
equilibrium.

• Piezoelectricity: material
property that linearly relates
Flash Goggles, PLZT applied stresses to induced
Ceramic capacitors dielectric displacements (direct
effect) or applied electric fields
to induced strains (converse
effect)

• Popular examples: BaTiO3 and

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT);
Lead -free compositions of
Sodium potassium niobate
Piezoelectric Materials (NKN)
Infrared sensors

159
Important events in the history of ferroelectrics

Fundamental steps in the understanding and application of ferroelectric and piezoelectric

ceramics

(1) The discovery of unusually high dielectric constant of BaTiO3 ( multilayer ceramic
capacitors - MLCCs).

(2) The discovery that the origin of the high dielectric constant in BaTiO3 is its
ferroelectric nature, thus disclosing an entire new class of piezoelectric/ferroelectric
materials –ABO3 perovskites with BO6 octahedra. Ferroelectricity no longer related to
hydrogen bonds.

(3) The discovery of the electrical poling process to align the electrical dipoles of the
grains/domains within the ceramics obtaining properties similar to those of single
crystals (large scale production and application of piezoelectric transducers and
actuators).
Piezoelectricity and ferroelectricity in solids

7 Crystal systems - 32 Symmetry Point Groups

21 Noncentrosymmetric 11 Centrosymmetric
(Non-piezoelectric)
20 Piezoelectric
Polarized under stress

10 Pyroelectric/Polar
Spontaneously polarized

Subgroup Ferroelectric
Spontaneously polarized
Polarization reversible

Tungsten bronze Oxygen octahedra Layered structures Pyrochlores

PbNb2O6 ABO3 Bi4Ti3O12 Cd2Nb2O7

Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3
Perovskites

BaTiO3 PbTiO3 Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O3 PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3 BiFeO3 (Na,K)NbO3

PT PZT PLZT PMN
 FERROELECTRIC CERAMICS

• This kind of material has perovskite structure, with

general formula ABO3, in which
– A is a large divalent metal ion such as Pb2+ or Ba2+,
– B is a small tetravalent metal ion, such as Ti4+ or Zr4+,
octahedrally coordinating with oxygen.
• Ferroelectricity occurs due to the displacement of
positive ions B4+ and negative ions O2- in opposite
directions.
FERROELECTRIC CERAMICS

• This displacement causes spontaneous polarisation

which is the origin of many other properties such as
– extremely high dielectric constant,
– hysteresis loop (non-linear dependence of polarisation with
applied field),
– piezoelectricity (the ability to change the dimension with
applied field and to produce the current with applied
mechanical stress).
FERROELECTRIC CERAMICS: PZT (PbZrTiO3)
structure

• Ferroelectric ceramics are widely used in modern

technology with various applications (sensors,
actuators, generators, transducers to very recent IC
for RAM).
• They can be used for DRAM (dynamic random access
memory), and high remanent polarisation and
low coercive field for being used as NVRAM
(non-volatile random access memory).
 Atom positions in cubic Perovskites

Site Co-ordinates
A cation (0,0,0)
B cation (½, ½, ½)
O anion (½,½, 0) (½, 0, ½) (0, ½, ½)

Ideal cubic ABX3 Perovskite structure

Approximate ion displacements in the

Variation in the potential energy of Ti4+ cubic–tetragonal distortion in BaTiO3
along the c axis for Tetragonal BT
The paraelectric to ferroelectric phase transition
In some perovskites containing Ti or Nb on the B site (BaTiO3, PbTiO3, KNbO3), a phase transition from a
paraelectric cubic structure to a lower symmetry phase (tetragonal) with appearance of spontaneous
polarization occurs at a critical temperature TC (Curie temperature).

Ba
Δz

Centrosymmetric T<TC, Polar, noncentrosymmetric

Spontaneous strain: (cT-aT)/aC ≈ cT/ac - 1

Compound TC PS Qc-t cT/aT-1 ∆z(Ti)
(°C) (µC/cm2) (J/mol) (pm)
BaTiO3 125 26 197 1% 120
PbZr0.5Ti0.5O3 (PZT) 380 40-50 - 2.5% -
TC = 2x104 (Δz)2
PbTiO3 495 81 4815 6.5% 300
KNbO3 435 30 796 - -
The paraelectric to ferroelectric phase transition
C
For T>TC: ε r' =
Curie-Weiss law T − T0

1/ε’r
6 orientations

Polarization and order of transition

Continuous decrease of Ps:
2° order transition

Polarization: order
parameter of
transition Discontinuity of Ps at Tc:
1° order transition
Ferroelectric hysteresis loop and polarization switching

PS: saturation (spontaneous) polarization

PR: remanent polarization
EC: coercive field
The slope of the initial polarization curve gives
the dielectric constant

Ideally +PR = -PR and +EC = -EC

-Pr
Hysteresis loop: the fingerprint of ferroelectricity
1(a)

JF Scott, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 20 (2008)

Q = 2PrA [saturated ferroelectric, ideally]

Q = 2PrA + σEAt [in real situations]
Q= σ EAt [linear lossy dielectric]
Switched charge Q versus applied electric voltage V is
not the same as polarisation-electric field (P–E) loops

If your `hysteresis loops' look like figure 1(a), please do not publish them.
Publish data that are saturated and have a region in Q versus V that is concave.
Bananas are not ferroelectric, and it is easy to be misled by closed Q(V) loops.
170
Phase transitions in barium titanate

(001)C
Lattice parameters TC Polarization orientation
(110)C
C C
T (111)C
O T
R
O

R
TC

Dielectric constant TC
O/T

O/T
R/O R/O

Spontaneous polarization
Phase transitions in ferroelectric perovskites

CUBIC
NO POLARIZATION

Polymorphic phase transition (PPT) in ferroelectrics are determined by:

- temperature change;
- external electric field;
- external stress;