Synthesis and Characterization of Bi12SiO20 Thin Films

Recent advances in mobile telecommunications and satellite broadcasting have created the need for new frequency channels. This fact is stimulating the progress in microwave integrated-circuit technology. The miniaturization and optimization of such circuits create demands for new components, which have to be compact, reliable and of low cost. Microwave dielectric ceramics represent such a group of components. The existing applications of the sillenites, in particular on B12SiO20 (BSO), are mainly in the fields of electro-optics, acoustics and piezoelectics. However, with the discovery of the BSO microwave dielectric properties, a potential application of this material as a dielectric in electronics technology has been considered. Therefore, the scientific work of this monograph is focused on the preparation of BSO thin films using the sol-gel method in order to follow the miniaturization demands for electronic devices. The monograph covers topics from basic sol-gel theory to its application in multi-component thin-film systems. Areas in which particular interest is concentrated include acid sol-gel chemistry, the influence of additives in sol-gel thin-film formation, the control