Effect of Mg doping on the structural and dielectric properties of strontium titanate ceramics

The influence of Mg incorporation into A- and B-sites of the perovskite lattice of SrTiO₃ ceramics on the structural, microstructural and low-frequency dielectric properties is studied in this work. Compounds in the systems Sr_1-xMg_xTiO₃ and SrTi_1-yMg_yO_3- were synthesised by a conventional solid-state method. The solid solubility of Mg is restricted to x<1% for A-site occupancy (Sr_1-xMg_xTiO₃) and to y<15% for B-site occupancy (SrTi_1-yMg_yO_3-). The lattice parameter is found to increase with Mg content for the SrTi_1-yMg_yO_3- system, while it is almost invariant in the Sr_1-xMg_xTiO₃ one. The dependence on the lattice-site occupancy is also verified for the grain growth of ceramics. For SrTi_1-yMg_yO_3- the average grain size markedly decreases with increasing Mg content. For Sr_1-xMg_xTiO₃ the inverse dependence is observed. Contrary to expectations, Mg does not induce ferroelectricity or relaxor-like behaviour in strontium titanate, located in either A- or B-sites of the SrTiO₃ lattice. Moreover, fitting the dielectric behaviour to Barretts law demonstrates that B-site doping drives the system away from the ferroelectric instability. In Mg-doped strontium titanate ceramics the dielectric permittivity and dielectric losses decrease. The results are discussed based on the correlation between cation-site occupancy, charge and chemical stoichiometry in both systems. PACS 61.10.Nz; 68.37.Hk; 68.37.Lp; 77.22.Ch; 77.22.Gm; 77.84.Dy