Broadband, High-Frequency Permittivity Characterization for Epitaxial Ba1-xSrxTiO3 Composition-Spread Thin Films

Published

June 24, 2021

Author(s)

Eric J. Marksz, Aaron Hagerstrom, Jasper A. Drisko, James Booth, Nate Orloff, Xiaohang Zhang, Naila Al Hasan, Justin Pearson, Ichiro Takeuchi

Abstract

Next-generation millimeter-wave (> 30 GHz) telecommunications electronics must be compact, energy efficient, and have good thermal management. Tunable materials may play a role in meeting these requirements for millimeter-wave front-ends, but there are few models or even measurements of tunable dielectrics at these frequencies. Here, we report on the adaptation and development of thin film high-frequency dielectric spectroscopy techniques for composition spread thin films from 100 MHz to 110 GHz. Our comprehensive technique sequentially probes the composition-, frequency-, and electric field-dependence of the complex permittivity in a combinatorial thin film library, which provides a platform to rapidly explore new materials for emerging telecommunications electronics. We demonstrate this technique by applying it to composition-spread Ba1-xSrxTiO3 thin films spanning compositions from 𝑥 = 0 to 𝑥 = 1. The systematic approach to materials growth inherent in combinatorial synthesis allows us to capture a comprehensive picture of the Ba1-xSrxTiO3 system. Our continuous, quantitative measurements provide a multi-dimensional view of the composition-dependent shifts in the dielectric properties at millimeter-wave frequencies for the first time – from strong, few- ps relaxations to no relaxation, and from large relative tunability (𝑛􀯥 > 50 %) to zero tunability – underscoring the utility of our technique, and the need to improve materials for next-generation telecommunications.

Citation

Physical Review Applied

Volume

15

Issue

6

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.15.064061

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Keywords

tunable, combinatorial, dielectric, ceramic, high-frequency, frequency

Citation

Marksz, E. , Hagerstrom, A. , Drisko, J. , Booth, J. , Orloff, N. , Zhang, X. , Al Hasan, N. , Pearson, J. and Takeuchi, I. (2021), Broadband, High-Frequency Permittivity Characterization for Epitaxial Ba1-xSrxTiO3 Composition-Spread Thin Films, Physical Review Applied, [online], https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.15.064061, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=929489 (Accessed October 9, 2025)