The Impact of the Sintering Temperature of Ferrite LTCC Materials on

the Characteristics of dc Tunable Inductor

Čedo Žlebič1), Ljiljana Živanov1), Miodrag Milutinov1), Nelu Blaž1), Goran Radosavljević2),
Andrea Marić1), Mirjana Damnjanović1)
1
Department of Power, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering,
Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
2
Department of Applied Electronic Materials, Institute of Sensor and Actuator Systems,
Technische Universität Wien, Vienna, Austria

Abstract: This paper is devoted to the study of the usage of the low-temperature co-fired ceramic
(LTCC) ferrite cores in dc current tunable inductors. Tested ferrite LTCC toroidal cores are fabricated
from commercial ESL 40011 tapes and sintered at 885, 1000, 1100 and 1200 °C. Tested inductors
obtained a large tunable inductance range ΔL/Lmin up to 647 %. Quality factor improvement under
applied dc current is noticeable and it is enhanced by ~6 times.

1. INTRODUCTION a new topology of a maximum power point tracker

Ferrite inductors are frequently used in modern
electronic circuits, since they have an ability to suppress
the noise, matching impedance of the circuits,
converting and storing the energy, etc. The trend in
electronics is such that ferrite inductor must work under
the dc current. Therefore, it is necessary to know the
characteristics of the inductors in the conditions when,
in addition to the alternating signal, dc current is passed
as well. This can prevent all unwanted effects that can
affect the operation and efficiency of electronic
devices.
Many researchers have explored possibility of
tuning the inductor with dc current. In [1], authors
presented a tunable magnetic inductor, based on
magnetoimpedance effect. The proposed inductor is
constructed with a magnetic inductor body, wound by
an insulated coil, inducing a longitudinal dc bias
magnetic field when a dc control current is flowing
through. Achieved relative variation of inductance
ΔL/Lmin was about 18%. Passive, electrically tunable
integrated radio frequency inductor based on a planar
solenoid with a thin-film ferromagnetic NiFe core was
presented in [2]. Tuning ranges (relative variations in
inductance) of 85%, 35%, and 20% are achieved at 0.1,
1, and 2 GHz, respectively, for inductances in the range
of 1 to 150 nH. Other authors have explored the usage
of dc current tunable inductors. In [3], authors present
controller for solar power applications that incorporates
a variable inductance. In [4] and [5], authors used a dc
current variable inductor for the optimization of
universal ballasts, while in [6], authors proposed a two-
phase interleaved LLC resonant converter that employs
a current-controlled inductor to adjust the resonance
frequency of one module, thus compensating for
component mismatch. In paper [7], authors presented a
novel method to electronically tune a Class E inverter
used as a primary coil driver in an inductive wireless
power transfer system to minimize the detrimental
effects of misalignment between the inductively
coupled coils which may occur during operation. The
tuning method uses current controlled inductors
(saturable reactors) and a variable switching frequency
to achieve optimum switching conditions regardless of
the misalignment.
Beside applications of dc current tunable inductors,
authors examined the effects of combinational additives
on the dc bias characteristics of NiZn ferrites. Adding
SnO2 and Nb2O5 affects the grain size, Q factor,
incremental permeability and saturation flux density
and coercivity field [8], [9]. NiCuZn ferrites with the
addition of BSZ glass or Bi2O3 exhibited a stronger
ability to inhibit the drop of permeability under the dc
bias magnetic field [10]. Copper-rich phase
precipitation at the grain boundaries reduced the
effective magnetic field of grains and thus enhanced the
dc bias characteristics of NiCuZn [11].

978-1-5386-5731-7/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE 1 2018 41st International Spring Seminar on Electronics Technology (ISSE)
 The aim of this work is to examine usage of the low-
temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) ferrite cores in dc
current tunable inductors and how the sintering
temperature of ferrite cores affects the inductance
tunability range. Tested ferrite LTCC toroidal cores are
fabricated from 22 layers of ESL 40011 tapes sintered
at 885, 1000, 1100 and 1200 °C.
2. MEASUREMENT PROCEDURE
Characterization of the inductors under the influence
of dc current is done using dc power source and
impedance analyzer HP4194A with 41941-61001
impedance probe in order to extend measuring
frequency range up to 100 MHz. Beside inductor
windings with NL = 10 turns, additional windings
Nbias = 10 turns are winded through which dc current is
passed. In that way, tunable inductor is realized which
inductance is adjustable with dc current. With changing
values of dc current through Nbias windings, we are
changing the slope of B-H curve, and as dc current
increase, B-H curve slope decrease which leads to
decrease of inductance. To cancel the influence of the
main flux ΦL (generated by alternating current from
impedance analyzer), Nbias windings are divided in two
equal number of turns which is winded in opposite
directions (Fig. 1). Also, dc power source is preferable
to use as constant current source to minimize influence
of the main flux on Nbias [12]. Inductors with LTCC
ferrite cores are tested under dc current IDC range (0 –
3 A), which results in an applied magnetic field
HDC = Nbias∙IDC/le (0 – 1818 A/m).
Fig. 1. Characterization setup for determining the influence
of dc current on the inductor characteristics.
Figure 2 shows a high-frequency lumped-circuit
inductor model, where Ls is the series inductance and Rs
is the series resistance.
978-1-5386-5731-7/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
Fig. 2. Equivalent series circuit of an inductor.
The impedance of the inductor is equal to
Z = Rs + jωLs, where the series resistance Rs is
μ 0 μ r ''ω Ae N L 2 (1)
Rs =
le
and the inductance is
μ 0 μ r Ae N L
' 2
Ls = (2)
le
where µ0 = 4π·10-7 H/m, µr’ and µr’’ are real and
imaginary part of relative permeability, respectively, Ae
is the effective area of the cross section of the core
(Ae = 1.32 mm2), le is the effective length of the core
(le = 16.50 mm), N is number of winding turns and ω is
angular frequency. Inner diameter/outer
diameter/height of cores are 4.18/6.42/1.2 mm.
3. MEASUREMENT RESULTS
Ferrite LTCC cores was sintered in the same firing
cycle at different peak sintering temperatures (885,
1000, 1100 and 1200 °C). Because of simplicity, ferrite
cores are denoted as C885, C1000, C1100 and C1200
(the numbers indicate the sintering temperature in °C).
Inductance change versus frequency of the inductors
with the different core samples (C885, C1000, C1100
and C1200) under different dc magnetic field is shown
in Fig. 3. Maximum inductance values are measured for
HDC = 0 A/m and with increase of HDC, ferrite core
saturates due to the reduction of magnetic permeability.
Therefore, minimum inductance values Lmin are
measured for maximum applied magnetics field
HDC = 1818 A/m. Dc magnetic field dependence of the
inductance is obvious and it is more pronounced in the
inductor with the core which has highest sintering
temperature. The permeability of the ferrite can be
described by two types of magnetizing processes, spin
rotation χspin and domain wall motion χdw [13]. Values
of χspin and χdw decrease with increasing external applied
dc magnetic field which leads to the decrease of ferrite
core permeability. In our previous work [14], we have
shown that the coercivity for sample C885 is 111.4 A/m
and it decrease to 28.3 A/m for the sample C1200.
2 2018 41st International Spring Seminar on Electronics Technology (ISSE)
Domain wall movement depends on coercive field (Hc),
i.e. domain walls are harder to move when Hc increase.
Since the sample C885 has the highest value of Hc, this
is the reasons why inductor with C885 core has the
lowest inductance drop under applied external dc
magnetic field.
The inductance tunability range ΔL/Lmin is
determined as
( L − L min ) (3)
Δ L / L min =
L min

ΔL/Lmin of the inductors with different core samples

measured at frequencies of 100 kHz, 1 MHz and 5 MHz
are shown in Fig. 4. The measured values of L and Lmin
at 100 kHz, 1 MHz and 5 MHz are summarized in Table
1. The smallest extent of the inductance tunability and
at the same time the most constant change is observed
for the inductor with the C885 ferrite core and it is
between 38.16 % (measured at 100 kHz) and 35.76 %
which is measured at 5 MHz. The largest tunability
range is observed for the inductor with the C1200
sample and it is 647.40 % measured at 100 kHz.

Table 1. Measured values of L (for HDC = 0 A/m) and Lmin

(for HDC = 1818 A/m) at 100 kHz, 1 MHz and 5 MHz.
C885 C1000 C1100 C1200
100 kHz L=2.10 µH L=3.92 µH L=6.44 µH L=11.51 µH
Lmin=1.52 µH Lmin=2.01 µH Lmin=2.42 µH Lmin=1.54 µH
1 MHz L=2.04 µH L=3.68 µH L=5.60 µH L=7.80 µH
Lmin=1.49 µH Lmin=1.96 µH Lmin=2.36 µH Lmin=1.42 µH
5 MHz L=2.05 µH L=2.97 µH L=3.93 µH L=4.54 µH
Lmin=1.51 µH Lmin=1.83 µH Lmin=2.16 µH Lmin=1.35 µH
Fig. 3. Inductance change of the tunable inductor under
applied dc magnetic field with a) core C885, b) core C1000,
c) core C1100 and d) core C1200.

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 C1100 sample, Q factor is improved from 8.24 (peaked
at 500 kHz) for HDC = 0 to 25.93 peaked also at 500 kHz
for the maximum applied dc magnetic field of
1818 A/m. Similarly, for the inductor with C1200
ferrite sample, value of Q factor measured for HDC = 0
at 500 kHz is 3.53 and the maximum value of Q factor
is 21.14 measured for HDC = 1515 A/m at 500 kHz
(Fig. 5d). The Q factor improvement for tested
inductors is achieved due to the decrease of
permeability and therefore increased skin depth and
reduced ferrite cores eddy current loss.
However, for the values of HDC higher than
1515 A/m, Q factor of the inductor with C1200 ferrite
sample decrease and have maximum value of 18.36.
The reason for this declining of inductor efficiency, i.e.
its Q factor value, is probably due to core saturation
under applied HDC. The inductor has lost the ability to
store energy and obviously, energy dissipated by the
inductor becomes larger.

Fig. 4. Inductance tunability under different applied dc

magnetic field at a) 100 kHz, b) 1 MHz, and c) 5 MHz.
Magnetic anisotropy increases as particle size
decreases due to domination of internal magneto
crystalline anisotropy [15]. From Fig. 4 it can be seen
that inductance tunability is largest for the inductor with
C1200 core. ΔL/Lmin of the inductors with different core
samples measured at frequencies of 100 kHz, 1 MHz
and 5 MHz is listed in Table 2.
Table 2. ΔL/Lmin for the inductors with different ferrite
samples measured at 100 kHz, 1 MHz and 5 MHz.
C885 C1000 C1100 C1200
100 kHz 38.16 % 95.02 % 166.11 % 647.40 %
1 MHz 36.91 % 87.76 % 137.29 % 449.29 %
5 MHz 35.76 % 62.30 % 81.95 % 236.30 %

Measurement results of the inductors Q factor under

applied HDC field is shown on Fig. 5. Q factor
improvement of the tunable inductors is observed for
all tested core samples. For the inductor with the C885
sample, Q factor is 20.4 peaked at 1.25 MHz for
HDC = 0 and it is increased to 27.14 at 1.5 MHz for
HDC = 1818 A/m (Fig. 5a). For the inductors with
C1000 and C1100 samples, Q factor is improved from
10.96 (at 500 kHz) for HDC = 0 to 17.75 (at 750 kHz) for
HDC = 1818 A/m for C1000 sample, while for the

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Fig. 5. Q factor of the tunable inductor under applied dc
magnetic field with a) core C885, b) core C1000, c) core
C1100 and d) core C1200.
4. CONCLUSION
The impact of the sintering temperature of LTCC
ferrite cores on inductance tunability and Q factor of dc
current tunable inductor has been investigated. The
inductance is controlled by dc current, in range
(0 − 3 A), which results in an applied magnetic field
HDC (0 − 1818 A/m). The inductor with S1200 ferrite
core, which is sintered at the highest temperature, can
be favored to achieve an inductor with highest value of
inductance tunability range. The inductance tunability
(measured at 100 kHz) for the inductor with the S1200
sample is ΔL/Lmin = 647.40 %. In applications where it
is necessary that change of inductance be as low as
possible for the same dc current values, inductor with
C885 ferrite core is preferable. Inductance change (at
100 kHz) of the inductor with S885 ferrite core is
ΔL/Lmin = 38.16 % which represents the inductor with
the smallest inductance tunability. Beside the
inductance change, it is noticeable Q factor
978-1-5386-5731-7/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
improvement of the dc current tunable inductors. Q
factor improvement is highest for the inductor with
S1200 ferrite sample (about 6 times), despite the dc
current limit after which Q factor decreased.
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