Effect of milling on the electrical properties of Ba(Fe1/2Ta1/2)O3 ceramic

In this work effect of high energy milling on the structural and electrical properties of Ba(Fe1/2Ta1/2)O3 (BFT) ceramic synthesized using standard solid-state reaction method were investigated. X-ray diffraction studies indicated that the unit cell structure for all the samples to be hexagonal (space group: P3m1). FTIR spectra also confirmed the formation of BFT without any new phase. The milled (10 h) BFT ceramic showed the formation of small grain sizes (<2 µm) which is beneficial for dielectric applications in high density integrated devices. Besides, the milled (10 h) BFT ceramic sample exhibited superior dielectric properties (enhancement in ε´-value and reduction in tgδ - value) compared to un-milled one. Impedance analysis indicated the negative temperature coefficient of resistance (NTCR) character. The correlated barrier hopping model (jump relaxation type) is found to successfully explain the mechanism of charge transport in present ceramic samples.