MME 467: Ceramics for Advanced Applications

Lecture 14
Dielectric Properties of
Ceramic Materials 2
1. Barsoum, Fundamental Ceramics, McGraw-Hill, 2000, pp.513–543
2. Richerson, Modern Ceramic Engineering, Dekker, 1992, pp.251–256.
Topics to discuss .......

 Dielectric strength
 Dielectric loss and dielectric breakdown
 Capacitance
 Dielectric properties of BaTiO3
 Problems
 Dielectric Strength
 Besides dielectric constant k’, dielectric strength is the second most
important properties of dielectric materials.

 It is the capacity of materials to withstand an electric field without

breaking down and allowing electric current to pass.
It has units of volts per unit of thickness of dielectric material.
Example: V/cm, V/mil (1 mil is thousandth of an inch)

 Materials of high dielectric strength are used as electric insulation.

 Dielectric Loss
 An ideal dielectric would allow no flow of electric charge, only a
displacement of charge via polarization.

 When an alternating electric field is applied to an ideal capacitor,

the current leads the voltage by a phase angle of 90º.
Under this circumstance, no power is absorbed by the dielectric and
the capacitor has zero loss.

 Real materials always have some loss. The phase angle between
current and voltage is not exactly 90º; the current lags slightly.
 The angle of lag is defined as d and the amount of lag or the
dissipation factor (a.k.a. loss tangent) becomes tan d.
 The dielectric loss is a measure of energy dissipated in the
dielectric in unit time when an electric field acts on it.
 Loss Tangent = tan d = k¢¢/k¢
k¢¢ = k¢ tan d
k’ = relative dielectric constant
k” = relative loss factor

 The total power loss can be expressed as

(
PL = 5.56x10–11 k¢ tan d E 2 f V )
E = applied electric field (V/m)
f = frequency of applied field (Hz)
V = volume of dielectric (m3)

 To reduce power loss, it is imperative that

1. Use solids that are highly insulating (sdc 0), i.e., use pure
material with large band gap such that number of carrier charge
is as low as possible
2. Reduce k’’
 A dielectric loss represents
[1] a wastage of energy, as well as
[2] attendant heating of the dielectric.

 Dielectric loss results from several mechanisms

[1] ion migration (the most important mechanisms)
[2] ion vibration and deformation
[3] electronic polarization
Factors Affecting Dielectric Loss
[1] Temperature and Impurity Content
They tend to increase conductivity of ceramics. So their effect on
dielectric loss can be substantial.

Variation of loss factor Effect of frequency and

with temperature impurity content on loss factor
[2] Frequency of Applied Field

Ion migration is strongly

affected by temperature and
frequency. The loss due to
ion migration increases at
low frequencies.
Frequency at which a
dielectric is to be used must
be as far removed from a
resonance frequency as
possible. Because at near
resonance, k” can increase
substantially.
[3] Crystal Structure and Crystallinity
Crystal structure has an effect on k” and loss tangent.
For close-packed ionic solids, dielectric loss is quite small, while for
loosely packed structures, dielectric loss is higher. For example,
for a-alumina (densely packed), loss tangent, tan d < 0.003
For g-alumina (loosely packed), loss tangent, tan d > 0.100
 Dielectric Breakdown

 When a dielectric is subjected to an ever-increasing electric field,

at some point a short circuit develops across it.

 Dielectric breakdown is defined as the voltage gradient or electric

field sufficient to cause the short circuit, or electricity to pass.
 Two basic types of dielectric breakdown:
[1] Intrinsic
 Electrons in the conduction band are accelerated to such
points that they start to ionize lattice ions
 As more ions are ionized, number of free electron
increases, and an avalanche effect is created
 Higher the electric field, faster the electrons will be
accelerated, and the more likely the breakdown will occur.
[2] Thermal breakdown
 Rate of heat generation is higher than the rate of heat
dissipation
 Dielectric will be heated up, conductivity increases, causing
further heating, and eventually thermal breakdown
 Capacitance
 A capacitor is an electrical device used to store charge which is received
from a circuit in a dielectric material between two conductor plates
received from a circuit.

 The dielectric material

[1] must easily be polarizable (should contain high dielectric constant k’)
[2] should have high electrical resistivity (so that charge cannot pass
through from one conductor to the other)
[3] must have high dielectric strength (so that it can operate at high
voltage and yet made as small as possible)
 Single layered capacitor Multi-layered capacitor

 To improve capacitor performance,

the layer of dielectric or the number of plates is increased.

 For capacitor containing n parallel plates, the capacitance

A
C = k¢e0 n -1
d
( )
Dielectric Properties of BaTiO3

 Results from its crystal structure (Perovskite)

 The unstable Ti atom in the octagonal position has 6 minimum-energy
positions off- centre along six oxygen atoms
 Ti atom positions randomly in one of these 6 positions, resulting
spontaneous polarization
 Since Ti has 4+ charge, degree of polarization is very high.
 When an electric field is applied, Ti ions shift from random to aligned
positions, resulting high bulk polarization and high k’
 Temperature has strong effect on polarization as it changes the crystal
structure of BaTiO3.
 Curie Temperature

Different polymorphs of BaTiO3 and accompanying changes in dielectric

constants.
 Grain size of BaTiO3 has strong influence on k’.

 Finer grains produce higher dielectric

constant
[1] due to the presence of internal
stress
[2] due to the increase in the number
of domain walls

 Larger grains have fewer grain

boundaries less resistance to
current flow.
 Effect of doping
 Depends upon size of A and B substitution (ABO3)
 Substitution of Ba with smaller ion (Ca/Mg) reduces the
sensitivity to temperature by broadening k’–T curve
 Substitution of Ba by Sr and Zr reduces Curie point, while
substitution of Ba by Pb increases it.
 Problems
1. An average displacement of electrons relative to nucleus in a copper
atom is 1x10–8 Å when an electric field is imposed on a copper plate.
Calculate the polarization.

MCu = 29 (atomic number)

Polarization, P = Nqd Number of electrons in each copper atom = 29
Lattice parameter of copper = 3.6151 Å

No. of dipole formed

N=
( 4 atoms / cell ) x ( 29 electrons / atom)
= 2.46x10 30
electrons / m3
( )
3
-10
3.6151x10 m3 / cell

æ öæ C ö
P = ç 2.46x10
è
30 electrons
m 3
÷
øè
ç1.16x10 -19
÷
electron ø
1x10 -8
x10 (
-10
m )
P = 3.94x10-7 C / m 2
2. The ionic polarization observed in NaCl crystal is 4.3x10–8 C/m2.
Calculate the displacement between Na+ and Cl– ions.

Here, there is one electric charge on each Na+ ion.

In NaCl unit cell, a = 5.5 Å, and there are 4 Na+ ions.

N=
( )(
4 Na +ions / cell x 1 charge/Na+ion ) = 2.4x10 28
charge/m 3
(5.5x10 ) m / cell
3
-10 3

P 4.3 x10 8 C/m 2

d 
 
Nq 2.4 x10 28 charge/m3 1.6 x10 19 C/charge 
d  11.2 x10 18 m  11.2 x10 8 Å
3. Suppose NaCl has a polarization of 4.3x10–8 C/m2 in an electric
field of 1000 V/m. Calculate the dielectric constant for NaCl.

P
k ¢ -1=
e0 E
4.3x10-8 C/m 2
k ¢ -1= = 4.9
(8.85x10 -12
)(
F/m 1000 V/m )
k ¢ = 5.9
4. Calculate the maximum polarization per cubic centimeter and the total
charge that can be stored per square centimeter for barium titanate.

(a) The oxygen ions are at face centers, Ba+2 ions are at cube corners and Ti+4 is at cube
center in cubic BaTi03.
(b) In tetragonal BaTi03 ,the Ti+4 is off-center and the unit cell has a net polarization.
In BaTiO3, the separations are the distances that the Ti4+ and O2- ions are
displaced from the normal lattice points. The charge on each ion is ,q= ze.

Thus, the dipole moments are:

Each oxygen ion is shared with another unit cell, so the total dipole
moment in the unit cell is:

The polarization per cubic centimeter is:

The total charge on a BaTiO3 crystal 1 cm  1 cm is:

5. We want to make a simple parallel plate capacitor that can store 4x10–5 C
at a potential of 10000 V. The separation between the plates is to be 0.2
mm. Calculate the area of the plates required if the dielectric is (a) a
vacuum, (b) polyethylene, (c) water, and (d) BaTiO3.

4x10-5 C
C = Q /V = = 4x10-9 F
10000 V
e A k ¢e0 A
C= =
d d

A=
Cd
=
( )(
4x10-9 F 0.2x10-3 m ) =
0.09 2
m
k ¢e0 (
k ¢ 8.85x10-12 F/m ) k¢
(a) For vacuum, k’ = 1: A = 0.09 m2
(b) For polyethylene, k’ = 2.26: A = 0.04 m2
(c) For water, k’ = 78.3: A = 1.15x10–3 m2
(d) For BaTiO3, k’ = 3000: A = 3x10–5 m2
6. A mica capacitor 250 mm2 area and 2.5 mm thick is to have a capacitance
of 0.0252 mF. (a) How many plates are needed? (b) What is the maximum
allowable voltage?

For mica, k’ = 7, and dielectric strength = 40x106 V/m.

(a) For multilayer capacitor

A
(
C = k ¢e0 n -1 ) d

( )
n -1 =
Cd
=
( )(
0.0252x10-6 F 2.5x10-6 m
=4
)
( )(
k ¢e0 A 7 8.85x10-12 F/m 250x10-6 m 2 )
n=5 (Five plates with four dielectric layers)
(b) Since E = V/d
V = (40x106 V/m) (2.5x10–6 m) = 100 V