Structural, morphological and electrical properties of Sn-substituted Ni-Zn ferrites synthesized by double sintering technique

The Sn-substituted Ni-Zn ferrites, (0.0 <= x <= 0.30), have been synthesized by the standard double sintering technique from the oxide nanopowders of Ni, Zn, Fe and Sn. The structural and electrical properties have been investigated by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), DC resistivity and dielectric measurements. From XRD data, the single cubic spinel phase has been confirmed for x <= 0.1, whereas for x > 0.1 an extra intermediate phase has been detected along with the cubic spinel phase of Ni-Zn ferrite. The grain size is increased due to Sn substitution in Ni-Zn ferrites. DC resistivity as a function of temperature has been measured by two probe method. The semiconducting nature has been found operative in the samples. The DC resistivity was found to decrease whilst the dielectric constant increased with increasing Sn content in Ni-Zn ferrites. The unusual behavior of the dielectric loss factor of the ferrites was explained by the Rezlescu model. The electrical relaxation of the ferrites has been studied in terms of electric modulus formalism and the time for dielectric relaxation was calculated. The contribution of grain resistance has been studied from the Cole-Cole plot. The suitability to use the as prepared samples in the miniaturized memory devices based capacitive components or energy storage principles are confirmed from the values of dielectric constant.