Cofired Magnetoelectric Laminate Composites

We report the structural, electrical, and magnetoelectric (ME) properties of cofired ME laminate composites synthesized using tape-casting approach. Compositions corresponding to 0.2Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)-0.8Pb(Zr0.5Ti0.5)O-3 [PZNT] and (Ni0.6Cu0.2Zn0.2) Fe2O3 [NCZF] were used as piezoelectric and magnetostrictive phases, respectively. In order to reduce the sintering temperature of the ferrite layer, NZF was modified with Cu and thereafter the laminate composite was successfully sintered at 930 degrees C. The interface between PZNT and NCZF was found to exhibit strong bonding with no structural defects, which was correlated with cross diffusion of ions. The laminate composite was found to exhibit the ME coefficient of 82 mV center dot(cm center dot Oe)-1 at H-dc=67 Oe and was able to detect a small DC magnetic field of 1 mu T under H-ac=1 Oe at 1 kHz. This sensitivity was attributed to the effectiveness of elastic coupling in the laminate structure. Fabrication of cofired laminate composites with high magnetic field sensitivity will lead to their wide-scale application.