S. A. Oliver

Magnetic properties of partially-inverted zinc ferrite aerogel powders

Fine powders of ZnFe2O4 with an average particle size of 10 nm and inversion parameter of 0.21 were synthesized by the aerogel procedure. Portions of the powders were calcined in air at 500 and 800 °C and other portions were ball-milled for 10 h. The materials were characterized by x-ray diffractometry, vibrating sample, and SQUID magnetometry, Mossbauer spectrometry, and low temperature calorimetry. Upon calcination the powders underwent significant changes in grain size, inversion parameter, and hence magnetic properties. The magnetic state of the as-produced and calcined samples is best described as disordered and highly dependent on temperature. Upon ball-milling the grain size varied widely and the inversion parameter attained a value of 0.55. The magnetic properties of the ball-milled sample are similar to those of ferrimagnetic MgFe2O4 powders having comparable grain size and inversion parameters.

Large zinc cation occupancy of octahedral sites in mechanically activated zinc ferrite powders

The cation site occupancy of a mechanically activated nanocrystalline zinc ferrite powder was determined as (Zn0.552+Fe0.183+)tet[Zr0.452+Fe1.823+]octO4 through analysis of extended x-ray absorption fine structure measurements, showing a large redistribution of cations between sites compared to normal zinc ferrite samples. The overpopulation of cations in the octahedral sites was attributed to the ascendance in importance of the ionic radii over the crystal energy and bonding coordination in determining which interstitial sites are occupied in this structurally disordered powder. Slight changes are observed in the local atomic environment about the zinc cations, but not the iron cations, with respect to the spinel structure. The presence of Fe3+ on both sites is consistent with the measured room temperature magnetic properties.

Growth and characterization of thick oriented barium hexaferrite films on MgO (111) substrates

Highly oriented films of BaFe12O19 have been deposited onto MgO (111) substrates by pulsed laser ablation deposition. In contrast to epitaxial BaFe12O19 films grown on Al2O3 (001) substrates, these films experience an in-plane biaxial compressive stress, and do not crack or delaminate to thicknesses of at least 28 μm. X-ray diffraction, magnetometry, torque magnetometry, and ferrimagnetic resonance results all indicate excellent c-axis orientation normal to the film plane, and magnetic properties comparable to bulk values. The thickness and properties of these films approach those required for applications in low-loss self-biased nonreciprocal microwave devices.

Integrated self-biased hexaferrite microstrip circulators for millimeter-wavelength applications

Planar microstrip Y-junction circulators have been fabricated from metallized 130-/spl mu/m-thick self-biased strontium hexaferrite ceramic die, and then bonded onto silicon die to yield integrated circulator circuits. The impedance matching networks needed to transform the low-impedance circulator outputs were deployed on low-loss alumina or glass dielectrics to minimize circuit losses. These magnetically self-biased circulators show a normalized isolation and insertion loss of 33 and 2.8 dB, respectively, and a 1% bandwidth for an isolation of 20 dB. Application of small (H<1.5 kOe) magnetic bias fields improved the isolation and insertion loss values to 50 and 1.6 dB, respectively. This design may form the basis for future monolithic millimeter-wave integrated circulator circuits that do not require magnets.

MMIC circulators using hexaferrites

MMIC circulators operating at K/sub A/-band have been fabricated from single crystal and polycrystalline hexaferrite platelets integrated into glass-microwave integrated circuit wafers. Measurements on circulators utilizing single crystal BaFe/sub 11.1/Sc/sub 0.9/O/sub 19/ showed two-band circulation, below-FMR (at 36 GHz) and above-FMR (at 24 GHz), while those using single crystal BaFe/sub 12/O/sub 19/ showed above-FMR circulation at 32-35 GHz. Self-biased circulators using SrFe/sub 12/O/sub 19/ ceramics showed above-FMR circulation at 32 GHz. All circulators showed reasonable insertion losses and isolation, with the best insertion loss of 1.2 dB at an isolation of 18 dB being found for a BaFe/sub 11.1/Sc/sub 0.9/O/sub 19/ circulator operating below-FMR.

Structure and magnetic properties of barium hexaferrite films deposited at low oxygen pressures

Barium hexaferrite films were grown by pulsed laser ablation deposition onto c-plane sapphire at oxygen pressures from 1 to 200 mTorr to evaluate their structural and magnetic properties. Films deposited at pressures above 1 mTorr showed excellent c-axis orientation normal to the film plane, and good surface morphologies. The c-axis lattice constant of films deposited at and above 50 mTorr was reduced compared to bulk values. Film saturation magnetization values were slightly lower than bulk values, while anisotropy field values were comparable. Ferrimagnetic resonance measurements showed distinct absorption peaks, with the narrowest linewidth of 0.20 kOe being measured for a 10 mTorr film. The 1 mTorr film had a significantly different texture wherein the c-axis laid down into the film plane, and also showed in-plane six-fold magnetic anisotropy. These results may indicate that highly c-axis oriented barium hexaferrite films can be grown to greater thicknesses using reduced oxygen pressures.

Theory and experiment of thin-film junction circulator

We have calculated the S-parameters and losses in ferrite-film-junction circulators using a new effective-field theory assuming TEM-like propagation. Conductivity loss dominates the dielectric and magnetic losses in Y-junction circulators fabricated on ferrite films with thicknesses less than 200 /spl mu/m. It is plausible to fabricate Y-junction thin-film circulator at X-band with insertion loss less than 0.5 dB if the film thickness is larger than 100 /spl mu/m. The quality of the conductor plane is important in reducing the overall insertion loss of the thin-film-junction circulator.

Ferrimagnetic zinc ferrite fine powders

Partially inverted fine powders of zinc ferrite (ZnFe/sub 2/O/sub 4/) were produced by chemical aerogel synthesis. These powders showed magnetic ordering at temperatures to 250 K. Upon ball milling, a much higher inversion parameter was attained, yielding ferrimagnetic powders having small remanence and coercive fields at room temperature. Due to the small mean particle size, superparamagnetic behavior was seen at temperatures above 25 K. Powder properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, calorimetry, magnetometry, and Mossbauer effect spectroscopy techniques.

Microwave properties of pulsed laser deposited Sc-doped barium hexaferrite films

The properties of thick BaScxFe12−xO19 (0.3<x<0.6) scandium hexaferrite films were measured by static and microwave field techniques. Films were deposited by pulsed laser ablation onto c-plane sapphire at oxygen pressures of 20 and 50 mTorr. Vibrating sample magnetometer measurements as corroborated by x-ray data showed that the films below 3 μm had easy axis of magnetization (c-axis) normal to the film plane with saturation magnetization values of 3.0–3.8 kG. From the ferrimagnetic resonance frequency versus external magnetic field, we deduced a g value of 1.96±0.03 and uniaxial anisotropy field of ∼10 kOe. The ferrimagnetic resonance linewidth for the film thicker than 5 μm was maximum at 32 GHz and decreased with increasing frequency, indicating evidence for nonuniform magnetic field scattering internally. However, the linewidths were lower for films having thickness below 3 μm.

Properties of pulsed laser deposited scandium-doped barium hexaferrite films

The properties of thin films of BaScxFe12−xO19 (x=0.4) were determined by structural and magnetic measurements. Films were deposited by pulsed laser ablation deposition onto c-plane sapphire at oxygen pressures between 10 and 100 mTorr. X-ray diffraction measurements showed all films to be single-phase c-axis oriented hexaferrites with expanded c-axis lattice constants compared to x=0 films. Magnetometry measurements showed that all films had the easy axis (c-axis) normal to the film plane, with a mean saturation magnetization value of 3.8 kG. The mean uniaxial anisotropy field value was 10.6 kOe. This ability to adjust the uniaxial anisotropy field in hexaferrite films through selective substitution will be important for future planar microwave devices.