Characterization of Multilayer Ferroelectric Ceramic Capacitors in a Wide Frequency Range for RF Applications

Abstract:

Surface mount devices (SMDs) such as multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) have been widely used to reduce the size of electronic circuits as they are mounted directly onto the surface of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and are smaller than their through-hole counterparts because SMDs have shorter internal leads or no leads at all. Another advantage of these components is the lower parasitic inductance, which results in a higher resonant frequency. This work reports on the dielectric characterization of four commercial multilayer ceramic capacitors in a broad frequency range from 0.01 GHz to 2 GHz. The dielectric characterization consists of measuring the reflection coefficient S₁₁ (real and imaginary parts) as function of frequency to calculate the permittivity, impedance and loss tangent of the capacitors tested. In addition, dielectric chemical composition is determined using surface X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The results show that MLCCs have a resonance frequency higher than 0.3 GHz depending on the value of their capacitance, making them suitable for use in RF equipment, mobile phones, radars, and microwave electronic circuits.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 975)
• Pages: 61-66
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.975.61
• Online since: July 2014
• Authors: Lauro Paulo Silva Neto*, Jose O. Rossi, Joaquim J. Barroso
• Keywords: Barium Titanate (BT), Impedance, Loss Tangent, Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor (MLCC)

References

[1] J. Cain, Comparison of Multilayer Ceramic and Tantalum Capacitors, AVX Technical Publication, AVX Corporation (available at http: /www. avx. com/).

[2] O.V. Tereshchenko, F.J.K. Buesink, F.B.J. Leferink, An overview of the techniques for measuring the dielectric properties of materials, Proc. IEEE General Assembly and Scientific Symposium, Istanbul (2011).

DOI: 10.1109/ursigass.2011.6050287

[3] J.W. Zha, Z.M. Dang, T. Yang, T. Zhou, H.T. Song, S.T. L, Advanced dielectric properties of BaTiO3/Polyvinylidene-fluoride nanocomposites with sandwich multi-layer structure, IEEE Trans. on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, 19, 4 (2012).

DOI: 10.1109/tdei.2012.6260006

[4] B.H. Lee, M.C. Park, D.S. Park, S.S. Park, H.S. Jung, Multilayer ceramic capacitor with ultra-low ESL for high-frequency decoupling applications, Electronic Lett. 45, 1(2009) 24-26.

DOI: 10.1049/el:20091072

[5] A. Trippe, S. Bhattacharya, J. Papapolymerou, Electrical characterization of embedded polymer/ceramic capacitors from 500 MHz to 12 GHz, Proc. IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC), Las Vegas, USA (2010) 1974-(1979).

DOI: 10.1109/ectc.2010.5490678

[6] N.F.M. Lazim, Z. Awang, Z. A. Majid, A. Yusof, A. Dollah, Improved characterization and modeling of PZT thin film capacitors, Proc. IEEE Asia-Pacific Conf. Appl. Electromagnetics (2007).

DOI: 10.1109/apace.2007.4603970

[7] N. Blaz, A. Maric, I. Atassi, G. Radosavljevic, L. Zivanov, H. Homolka, W. Smetana, Complex permeability changes of ferrite LTCC samples with variation of sintering temperatures, IEEE Trans. on Magnetics 48, 4 (2012) 1563-1566.

DOI: 10.1109/tmag.2011.2173178

[8] A.N. Al-Omari, K.L. Lear, Dielectric characteristics of spin-coated dielectric films using on-wafer parallel-plate capacitors at microwave frequencies, IEEE Trans. on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation 12, 6 (2005)1151-1161.

DOI: 10.1109/tdei.2005.1561795

[9] B. Carter, How (not) to decouple high-speed operational amplifiers, Appl. Rept., Texas Instr., SLOA069 (2001).

[10] L.P. Silva Neto, J.O. Rossi, J.J. Barroso, A.R. Silva Junior, P.J. Castro, P.A.G. Dias, Ceramic dielectric characterization for sub-GHz applications using nonlinear transmission lines, Proc. SBMO/IEEE MTT-S Int. Microwave and Optoelectronic Conf., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2013).

DOI: 10.1109/imoc.2013.6646601

[11] E.S. Choi, Y.H. Lee, S.G. Bae, Microwave dielectric properties of MgTiO3-BaTiO3 ceramics, Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. Electr. Insulation Mater. (2001) 99-102.