Inhibition of silver diffusion in LTCC by MgTiO3 addition

In this work, the effect of MgTiO3 on silver diffusion in alumina/borosilicate low temperature co-fired ceramics was investigated. The added MgTiO3 reacts with the glass to produce a new crystalline phase, which together with MgTiO3, acts as a barrier to block the diffusion of silver. The diffusion coefficient of the sample sintered at 900 degrees C for 30 min was reduced from 6.07 x 10(-13) cm(2)/s to 3.50 x 10(-13) cm(2)/s, and the diffusion activation energy was increased from 89.4 kJ/mol to 117.2 kJ/mol. In addition, MgTiO3 promoted the compaction of sintering. The dielectric properties of the samples sintered at 900 degrees C for 30 min with 25% MgTiO3 added were determined to epsilon(r) = 7.8 and tan delta = 0.0005 (1 MHz), which are similar to the properties obtained for a sample with only alumina added (epsilon(r) = 6.9, tan delta = 0.0005 at 1 MHz).