Breakthrough advances in low loss, tunable dielectric materials

Abstract

Low loss, tunable dielectric materials are important for phased array antenna and other device applications. Various composites of barium strontium titanium oxide (BSTO) combined with other nonelectrically active oxide ceramics have been formulated for such uses. The dielectric constant and the loss tangents of these composites have been reduced to enhance the overall impedance matching and thereby lowering the overall insertion loss of the device. The material has been fabricated in bulk ceramic, thick film, and thin film form to address a broad range of frequency applications. The material fabrication methods and the electronic properties of these composites will be discussed in this article.