Effects of sintering temperature on structural and electromagnetic properties of MgCuZn ferrite prepared by microwave sintering

Nanocrystalline magnesium–copper–zinc (Mg0.30Cu0.20Zn0.50Fe2O4) ferrites were prepared by microwave sintering technique. The effects of the sintering temperature on particle size and magnetic properties were investigated. In this article, optimum sintering temperature required for MgCuZn ferrite system for obtaining good electromagnetic properties, suitable for applications in low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) chip components was studied. The grain size, initial permeability, dielectric constant and saturation magnetisations were found to increase, and dielectric loss was found to decrease with the increasing sintering temperature. Mg–Cu–Zn ferrites with a permeability of μ = 1110 (at 1 MHz) were fully densified at the standard LTCC sintering temperature of 950°C.