Automated dielectric constant and loss tangent characterization using cavity resonators

A noninvasive planar complementary split-ring resonator (CSRR) for measuring the dielectric constants and loss tangents of material is presented in this letter. Measurements were developed to extract the complex permittivity of the material under test (MUT) using the equivalent RLC resonator circuit model. This technique enables a single-step measurement of the MUT without the need for machining or reshaping. The method requires calculating only two parameters, the resonant frequency (fr) and the magnitude (dB) response, thus achieving a substantial reduction in cost and computation time. A CSRR sensor operating in the 1.8 to 2.8 GHz band is fabricated and tested for verification. The measurement errors in the dielectric constant were less than 7.6%. An efficient technique of CSRR measuring complex permittivity is experimentally verified.

Electromagnetic (EM) waves are used in the oil and gas industry to identify the geology of the formation and the type of the fluid saturating the medium. There is also an interest to use the electromagnetic waves as an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method. However, interpretation of logging data generated through electromagnetic waves or determination of the electromagnetic wave propagation in a medium as an EOR method are not easy tasks. This study aims to identify the role of different geological settings with different types of fluid saturations in the response of electromagnetic wave propagation and absorption. To reach this objective multitude-systematic laboratory scale experiments were conducted on different reservoirs fluid and rock pairs. As reservoir mineralogy, different grain size of quartz, clay, or limestone is used to prepare the reservoir rocks at different porosity. Water is known as a good absorber for EM waves, thus, pore space were saturated at different water saturations and a bitumen sample (10,000 cP, 12° API) from Canada. Prepared samples were packed into in-house-built-Plexiglas core holder which allows measurements with EM waves. The response of EM waves propagation and absorption was measured by using a vector network analyzer at varying frequencies (500 MHz to 4 GHz) through dielectric properties (dielectric constant, loss tangent, and penetration depth). The results were used to obtain correlations between dielectric properties and physical properties (reservoir rock mineralogy, porosity, water saturation, and oil saturation) of the reservoir rock-fluid blends. Water saturation gives a perfect correlation with dielectric constant and loss tangent values of the saturated medium. Because dielectric constant and loss tangent parameters provide an idea on the absorption characteristics of EM wave in the medium, and because water is a strong EM wave absorber, as it was expected, with the increase in water saturation, the dielectric constant and loss tangent parameters of the medium are also increased; on the other hand, penetration depth was decreased. With the increase in quartz content in the medium, it has been observed that EM wave penetration is enhanced. As a result, several correlations were created in this study and they can be used to better interpret the reservoir mineralogy and fluid saturation as a response to EM wave logging. Moreover, these results can be used to estimate the effective area (penetration depth) of EM wave as an EOR method in different mediums.

This paper presents an experimental and analytical study of irreversible change in piezoelectric wafer active sensor (PWAS) electromechanical (E/M) impedance and admittance signature under high temperature exposure. After elevated to high temperatures, change in the material properties of PWAS can be quantified through irreversible changes in its E/M impedance and admittance signature. For the experimental study, circular PWAS transducers were exposed to temperatures between 50 °C and 250 °C at 50 °C intervals. E/M impedance and admittance data were obtained before and after each heating cycle. Irreversible temperature sensitivity of PWAS resonance and anti-resonance frequency was estimated as 0.0246 kHz °C−1 and 0.0327 kHz °C−1 respectively. PWAS transducer material properties relevant to impedance or admittance signature such as dielectric constant, dielectric loss factor, mechanical loss factor, and in plane piezoelectric constant were determined experimentally at room temperature before and after the elevated temperature tests. The in-plane piezoelectric coefficient was measured by using optical-fiber strain transducer system. It was found that the dielectric constant and in-plane piezoelectric coefficient increased linearly with temperature. Dielectric loss also increases with temperature but remains within 0.2% of initial room temperature value. Change in dielectric properties and piezoelectric constant may be explained by depinning of domains or by domain wall motion. The piezoelectric material degradation was investigated microstructurally and crystallographically by using scanning electron microscope and x-ray diffraction method respectively. There were no noticeable changes in microstructure, crystal structure, unit cell dimension, or symmetry. The degraded PWAS material properties were determined by matching impedance and admittance spectrums from experimental results with a closed form circular PWAS analytical model. Analytical results showed that impedance and admittance strongly depend on elastic coefficient, dielectric constant, mechanical loss factor, dielectric loss tangent and in plane piezoelectric constant. These properties were found to be susceptible to change after high temperature exposure.

Measurements of dielectric constant and loss tangent have been made on several paraelectric and ferroelectric materials in the region of 35 Gc/s. The measurement technique is appropriate for materials with large dielectric constant and large loss tangent; typical values measured are in excess of 1500 for dielectric constant and 0.1 for loss tangent. Preliminary considerations indicate an accuracy of approximately 5 per cent. Previously reported techniques are not suitable for making such measurements at 35 Gc/s, and this aspect is discussed briefly. The technique consists of measuring insertion loss and phase shift of a signal upon passing through a slab of the test material filling the cross section of the waveguide. These data are measured as a function of slab thickness. The insertion loss (in dB) will undulate with increasing thickness for sufficiently thin samples, but it quickly becomes proportional to thickness for material having the afore-mentioned properties. In the region of proportionality the equations relating insertion loss and phase shift to the dielectric constant and loss tangent become rather simple, allowing data to be reduced easily. The paper gives a derivation of the equations required for data reduction and also reports measured dielectric constants and loss tangents of various barium-strontium titanates at 35 Gc/s. Experimental problems are discussed including the very real problem of mounting the sample within the waveguide so as to eliminate air gaps and erratic data.

This study sheds light on the effect of alumina on dielectric constant and dielectric loss of novel CaCu3Ti4O12 composite ceramics. Alumina, at several concentrations, was deposited on the surface of CaCu3Ti4O12 particles via sol-gel technique. The dielectric constant significantly increased for all frequencies and the dielectric loss substantially decreased for low and intermediate frequencies. These observations were attributed to the change in characteristics of grains and grain boundaries. It was found that the insulating properties of the grain boundaries are improved following the addition of Al2O3. The relative density of CaCu3Ti4O12/Al2O3 composite ceramics decreased compared to the pure CaCu3Ti4O12 and the grain size was greatly changed with the alumina content affecting the dielectric properties. With the addition of alumina into CaCu3Ti4O12, tighter interfaces formed. The 6%- and 10%-alumina ceramics showed the minimum dielectric loss and the maximum dielectric constant, respectively. Both the dielectric constant and loss tangent decreased in the 20%-alumina ceramic due to the formation of CuO secondary phase. It was revealed that Al serves as an electron acceptor decreasing the electron concentration, if Al3+ ions substitute for Ti4+ ions, and as an electron donor increasing the electron concentration, if Al3+ ions substitute for Ca2+ ions. We established a processing-microstructure-properties paradigm which opens new avenues for novel applications of CaCu3Ti4O12/Al2O3 composite ceramics.

Effect of LiCl doping on dielectric behavior of copper–zinc ferrite system

In the present work BaFe12O19 nano-hexaferrite had been synthesized by sol-gel method and then characterized for its structural, electric, dielectric and magnetic properties. X-ray diffraction studies confirmed the hexagonal structure of the prepared nanohexaferrite with no secondary phase and the particle size was found to be of the order of 49 nm. Further, the morphology of the sample has been studied by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A high value of the DC resistivity (5.5 × 10 6 Ω cm), has been obtained at room temperature. The dielectric properties such as dielectric constant (e'), dielectric loss tangent (tan δ) and ac electrical conductivity (σac) are investigated as a function of frequency. The dielectric constant and loss tangent are found to be decreasing with the increase in frequency while ac electrical conductivity is observed to be increasing with the increase in frequency. The dielectric properties have been explained on the basis of Maxwell-Wagner's two-layer model and hopping of the charge. The magnetic properties such as initial permeability (µi) and relative loss factor (RLF) have been investigated as a function of frequency in the range 75 kHz to 30 MHz .Fairly constant value of initial permeability and low values of RLF of the order of 10 -4 over a wide frequency range are the cardinal achievements of the present work. The room temperature M-H study shows that present nanohexaferrite has high value of coercivity (2151.3 Oe) and high saturation magnetization (32.5 emu/gm), which make present nanohexaferrite very suitable for magnetic applications. The M-T study shows that prepared nano-hexaferrite has high Tc (746 K). Copyright © 2014 VBRI press.

Polymer matrix composites with lightweight, low dielectric constant (ε) and dielectric loss tangent (tan δ), high‐temperature resistance, and excellent mechanical properties are urgently needed in the fields of aviation, aerospace, transportation, and wireless communication services. In this work, 3D woven spacer Kevlar/polyimide composites (3DKPC) with excellent dielectric properties and robust mechanical properties were designed and obtained by combining 3D weaving technology and thermal imidization process. Results show that the volume density of the prepared composites is as low as 0.24 g·cm −3 , but its compressive strength can be up to 6.24 MPa. The dielectric constant and loss tangent of 3DKPC at room temperature are extremely low, with the value of ~1.32 and 6.9 × 10 −3 , respectively. Moreover, the compressive strength retention rate is more than 96% and the dielectric constant can be consistently lower than 1.36 when the temperature increases from 25 to 300°C, demonstrating the outstanding mechanical and dielectric stability of 3DKPC. In addition, as an application example of resulting composites, a microstrip antenna with 3DKPC as the substrate material was designed, followed by the simulation of its electromagnetic properties via High Frequency Structural Simulator. The results display that the gain of the microstrip antenna is 6.2 dB, which is superior to those of many other reported microstrip antennas, indicating that the 3DKPC proposed here has great application potential in aerospace, wireless communication, and other fields.

In this paper, a dielectric properties extraction method for millimeter-wave applications is presented. Substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity resonators with the same structure and varied thicknesses are employed to separate the dissipation factor (DF) of the substrate material for the cavity resonators. The dielectric constant and loss tangent of the dielectric substrate for the SIW is extracted at the resonance frequencies based on the unloaded Q-factors of transmission loss measurement. The DF from the unloaded Q-factors, which is highly dependent on the thickness of the substrate, is extracted using an iterative fitting process for the substrate thickness estimation without cross sectioning. To validate the extraction method, the SIW cavity resonators are fabricated using RO4003C substrate material and the dielectric properties are extracted in the X-band (8.2 to 12.4 GHz). The extracted thicknesses of the SIW resonators are validated by cross-sectioning. Additionally, the extracted dielectric properties are also verified by comparing the dielectric characteristics of the SIW resonators with the different thicknesses. With the presented method, the time expense for the conventional dielectric characterization method with cross-sectioning is reduced.

A simple methodology for extracting wideband dielectric constant of low-k thin film material has been demonstrated by fringing effect estimations measurements and field solving simulations of capacitor patterns. From the simulated fringing effects of the capacitors with arbitrary dielectric constants, we obtained the piecewise linear equations with two variables such as dielectric constant and fringing effect. And we determined the dielectric constant of low-k thin film material from the measured fringing effect of the capacitor on low-k material. We present the extracted dielectric constant up to 30GHz for a multiblock copolyimide (Q-VR-X0521; PI R&D Co., Ltd, Japan). Also we obtained the loss tangent of a multiblock copolyimide by using the same extracting methodology of dielectric constant. The extracted relative dielectric constant (epsivr) and loss tangent (tangamma) of the multiblock polyimide are from 3.9 to 3.2 and from 0.032 to 0.052 in frequency range from 50MHz to 30GHz, respectively.

Preliminary investigations of dielectric constant, loss tangent and electrical conductivity of zinc oxide pellets have been done at 50°C for signal frequency varying from 1 kHz to 5 MHz. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss tangent both decrease with increase in the frequency of the ac signal, whereas the electrical conductivity increases.

Cobalt-Nickel (Co 0.4 Ni 0.6 Fe 2 O 4 ) ferrite nanoparticles were prepared by solution combustion method using cobalt nitrate & nickel nitrate as oxidizers and urea as a fuel. The structures of the sample were studied with X-ray diffraction (XRD) using Cu-Ka radiation. The X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the nanocrystalline nature in the prepared ferrite samples. The dependence of dielectric properties such as dielectric constant (e′) and dielectric loss factor (e″), dielectric loss tangent (tanδ) and the a. c. conductivity (σ) on the frequency has been undertaken over a wide range of frequencies (100Hz–5MHz) at room temperature. The dielectric constant (e′) and dielectric loss factor (e″) were found to decrease initially with an increase in frequency and reached a constant value at higher frequency, exhibiting a frequency-independent behavior at higher frequencies. The dielectric loss tangent (tanδ) was found to decrease with an increase in the frequency. A. c. conductivity of the Co-Ni nanoferrite was found to increase with the increase in the frequency. The electrical conduction mechanism in the Co-Ni nanoferrite is found to be in accordance with the electron hopping model. This electronic document is a “live” template. The various components of your paper [title, text, heads, etc.] are already defined on the style sheet, as illustrated by the portions given in this document.

This study focuses on the measurement and analysis of the complex permittivities of polymer blends using the field enhancement method (FEM). The blends, consisting of air-powder or solvent-solute mixtures, are placed in a Teflon holder and inserted into the FEM cavity to determine the complex permittivity. The resonant frequency and quality factor of the FEM cavity coupled with the samples provide information on the blends' dielectric constant and loss tangents. To extract the complex permittivities of three specific samples of DC-840, MCL-805, and MCL-Siloxane, we employ effective medium theories and the high-frequency structure simulator (HFSS) together with the measured data. The results reveal that when the volume fraction of the DC-840 solute in the xylene solvent surpasses a specific threshold, the dielectric constants and the loss tangents experience a notable increase. This phenomenon, known as percolation, strongly correlates with the viscosity of polymer blends. The observed percolation effect on the dielectric behavior is further elucidated using the generalized dielectric constant and the Debye model. By employing these models, the percolation effect and its impact on the dielectric properties of the blends can be explained.

Electric field tunable ferroelectric materials have attracted extensive attention in recent years due to their potential applications for tunable microwave device such as tunable filters, phased array antennas, delay lines and phase shifters (Maiti et al. 2007a; Rao et al. 1999; Romanofsky et al. 2000; Varadan et al 1992.; Zhi et al. 2002). Ba1-xSrxTiO3 and BaZrxTi1−xO3 have received the most attention due to their intrinsic high dielectric tunability. However, the high inherent materials loss and high dielectric constant has restricted its application in tunable microwave device. Various methods have been investigated to lower the dielectric constant and loss tangent of pure ferroelectrics. Forming ferroelectric-dielectric composite is an efficient method to reduce material dielectric constant, loss tangent and maintain tunability at a sufficiently high level. For binary ferroelectric-dielectric composite (such as BST+MgO) (Chang & Sengupta 2002; Sengupta & Sengupta 1999), with the increase of dielectrics content, the dielectric constant and tunability of composites decrease. In order to decrease the dielectric constant of binary composite, it is necessary to increase the content of linear dielectric, and the tunability will decrease inevitably due to ferroelectric dilution. Replacing one dielectric by the combination of dielectrics with different dielectric constants and forming ternary ferroelectric-dielectric composite can decrease the dielectric constant of composite and maintain or even increase the tunability. This is beneficial for tunable application. The Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3-Mg2SiO4-MgO and BaZr0.2Ti0.8O3-Mg2SiO4-MgO composites exhibited relatively high tunability in combination with reduced dielectric permittivity and reduced loss tangent (He et al. 2010, 2011). With the increase of Mg2SiO4 content and the decrease of MgO content in Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3-Mg2SiO4-MgO composite, the dielectric constant decrease and the tunability remain almost unchanged. For BaZr0.2Ti0.8O3-Mg2SiO4-MgO composite, an anomalous relation between dielectric constant and tunability was observed: with the increase of Mg2SiO4 content (>30 wt%), the dielectric constant of composite decreases and the tunability increases. The anomalous increased tunability can be attributed to redistribution of the electric field. Ba1-xSrxTiO3-Mg2TiO4-MgO can also form ferroelectric (Ba1-xSrxTiO3)-dielectric (Mg2TiO4-MgO) ternary composite and the dielectric constant can be decreased. With the increase of Mg2TiO4 content and the decrease of MgO content, the tunability of Ba1-xSrxTiO3Mg2TiO4-MgO composite increase. The multiple-phase composites might complicate method to effectively deposit films, particularly if the dielectrics and ferroelectric are not compatible for simultaneous deposition or simultaneous adhesion with a substrate or with

Structural and dielectric properties of Cerium doped Magnesium-Zinc Aluminate spinel nano-crystallites for high frequency applications