Electric Properties of La3+ Doped BaTiO3 Ceramics

Barium titanate ceramic BaTiO3 (BT) has been investigated extensively because of scientific interest as well as various applications to electronic devices. When pure BaTiO3 is highly resistive at room temperature (rho > 10(10) Omega cm). However its electrical resistivity can be dramatically lowered by some dopants, like rare earth elements [1, 2]. In the present research lanthanum-doped BT ceramics described by the general formula Ba1-xLaxTi1-x/4O3, for x = 0.001 and x = 0.003, was prepared by free sintering method. The electrical properties of (BLT) materials were studied by impedance spectroscopy with a Quadtech 1920-type precision LCR meter and parameters of the phase transition were determined. The equivalent circuit method was applied to fit the experimental data. The possibility of application of La-doped BT ceramics for fabrication of piezoresistive transducers sensitive for small stress load are also discussed in the present paper.