High-temperature electrical conductivity and electromechanical properties of stoichiometric lithium niobate

Abstract

High temperature properties such as electrical conductivity (σ) and resonance behaviour of stoichiometric lithium niobate (LiNbO3) are determined in the temperature range from 20 to 950 °C. The activation energy of the conductivity is found to be 0.9 and 1.7 eV in the temperature range from 500 to 750 °C and from 800 to 950 °C, respectively. During thermal treatments in ambient air up to 950 °C and back, the conductivity remains unchanged at a given temperature, i.e., the crystal is stable under these conditions. The oxygen partial pressure (pO2) dependence of the conductivity shows two distinct ranges. At 750 °C, the property remains unchanged down to 10−15 bar. Below 10−15 bar, the conductivity increases according to σ ~ (pO2)−1/5. Z-cut LiNbO3 plates can be excited to thickness mode vibrations up to at least 900 °C. At this temperature, the quality factor Q is found to be between 30 and 100. As for changes of the conductivity, a decrease of the resonance frequency is observed below 10−15 bar indicating a correlation of both properties. In order to evaluate the lithium evaporation, the crystals are tempered at 900 °C in ambient air for 24 h. A depth profile of the constituents does not indicate lithium loss within the accuracy of the secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The preliminary results underline the potential of stoichiometric LiNbO3 for high-temperature applications and justify its closer investigation.