Effect of Sintering Temperature on Microstructure, Electrical and Dielectric Properties of (V, Mn, Co, Dy, Bi)-Codoped Zinc Oxide Ceramics

The effect of sintering temperature on the microstructure, electrical and dielectric properties of (V, Mn, Co, Dy, Bi)-codoped zinc oxide ceramics was investigated in this study. An increase in the sintering temperature increased the average grain size from 4.7 to $10.4{\mu}m$ and decreased the sintered density from 5.47 to $5.37g/cm^3$. As the sintering temperature increased, the breakdown field decreased greatly from 6027 to 1659 V/cm. The ceramics sintered at $900^{\circ}C$ were characterized by the highest nonlinear coefficient (36.2) and the lowest low leakage current density ($36.4{\mu}A/cm^2$). When the sintering temperature increased, the donor concentration of the semiconducting grain increased from $2.49{\times}10^{17}$ to $6.16{\times}10^{17}/cm^3$, and the density of interface state increased from $1.34{\times}10^{12}$ to $1.99{\times}10^{12}/cm^2$. The dielectric constant increased greatly from 412.3 to 1234.8 with increasing sintering temperature.