Project Director: Liviu NEDELCU

Project Type: National

Project Program: PED

Funded by: Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI)

Contractor: National Institute of Materials Physics

Project Status: In progress

Start Date: 23 October, 2020

End Date: 21 October, 2022

Project summary

The main objective of the project is to exploit the versatility of the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique in order to prepare Zr_1-xSn_xTiO₄ (ZST) solid solutions with various shapes whose multifunctional properties set the ground for development of the new generation of high performance microwave devices. Even though has several advantages, SPS can produce a lot of oxygen vacancies in oxide materials and such defects increase the dielectric loss. In order to overcome this drawback, as-sintered sample will be ex-situ annealed in air or oxygen atmosphere. Apart of usual structural and morphological characterizations, the extrinsic contribution to the losses will be investigated by microwave spectroscopy and terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. Through the analysis of the “synthesis - microstructure – properties” cycle, the technology suitable for fabrication of “zero-porosity” ZST ceramics with low dielectric loss in microwave domain will be developed. The targeted results would allow achieving of materials with multifunctional properties with a breakthrough potential in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the passive microwave devices.