An investigation into the electrical properties of doped barium titanate using EIS

Barium titanate has been doped with rare earth oxides (Erbium, Holmium, Gadolinium and Yttrium) in an attempt to understand the effect on the reliability of the dielectric material for multilayer capacitor applications. The morphology of the samples used was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with EDAX used to confirm the presence of each rare earth ions. It is suggested that incorporation of rare earth ions into the BaTiO3 is as a result of ionic radius, resulting in varying grain growth and electrical properties. The change in reliability and electrical properties of the capacitor can be attributed to overall distribution of rare earth oxides and their occupation site within the dielectric.